Consider all beneficiaries of Food Security Act eligible for Ayushman Bharat scheme: Raj CM to Modi

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider all families covered under the National Food Security Act, 2013, eligible for the Central government's flagship Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY). The ambitious health insurance scheme for the poor, unveiled by Prime Minister Modi in September 2018, aims to provide a coverage of Rs five lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10.74 crore poor families for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of Empanelled Health Care Providers.

In the letter to Modi, the Rajasthan chief minister requested him to make the National Food Security Act, 2013, instead of the socio-economic caste census-2011 data as the eligibility criteria for the health insurance scheme. Gehlot said only 59.71 lakh families have been identified as beneficiary of AB-PMJAY according to the current eligibility criteria whereas there are nearly one crore families in the state covered under the National Food Security Act and are getting free health insurance benefit under the state's Bhamashah Scheme.

According to a release, Gehlot said the socio-economic caste census data are nearly eight year older and many families which should be covered under the scheme are left out due to the current eligibility criteria.

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