The Challenges and Opportunities of Implementing the Prime Minister's Insurance Scheme

The launch of the flagship campaign Ayushman Bharat saw a significant rise in the health standards of the country. It brought the necessary medical facilities for the underprivileged population to their doorstep. Intending to provide comprehensive healthcare, the campaign helped many realise just how important healthcare insurance is. The two components that come under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana are the Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY). These components are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 3. The 3rd sustainable development goal is to ensure the health and well-being of all citizens.

The PM-JAY reiterated the importance of health insurance being provided to every citizen in the country. It provided coverage of medical expenses for people who could not afford expensive insurance plans provided by private companies. There are various challenges that the government has to face while implementing any scheme. While launching the Prime Minister’s Insurance Scheme, the government had to see a lot of challenges and opportunities.

This blog will take you through some of those challenges and opportunities.

Challenges which Led to the Implementation of PM-JAY

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is what existed before the PM-JAY. Launched way back in 2008, it saw many challenges which were carried forward to the PM-JAY as well, and hence the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Insurance Scheme had many challenges:

• When the RSBY was launched, people were not well informed and aware of how to avail the benefits of the scheme.
• Moreover, it was also observed that when the beneficiaries went to hospitals with their cards, they were not allowed to avail of the services as they were assumed to be there just for free services.
• People did not know how to avail the services of the RSBY smart card, so while implementing the PM-JAY, the biggest challenge was to make people aware of the services.
• Often the local leaders did not participate and give their contribution, which becomes a big hurdle in the implementation of schemes.

Opportunities of Implementing the Prime Minister’s Insurance Scheme

Various instances led to the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Insurance Scheme. The need for a scheme that impacted the health standard of the population in the country was fulfilled with the launch of the PM Insurance Yojana. With its launch, a lot of challenges started to fade:

• The launch of PM-JAY led to more awareness about the need for a healthcare insurance scheme. People realised how important it was to be financially secure when it came to medical emergencies.
• Spreading awareness and helping people avail of the services provided by the government is not easy. However, PM-JAY focused on comprehensive healthcare, and thus, the government worked even harder to provide information in every corner of the country.
• The affordability and accessibility of the scheme made it stand out. It provided extensive coverage for several treatments, diagnoses, medication and a long list of pre-existing diseases.
• With coverage of 5 Lakhs per family, the PM-JAY helped the underprivileged access medical care whenever needed without having to bear the financial burden.
• It provided cover for secondary and tertiary care and had a huge number of network hospitals.
• It even covered various miscellaneous expenses such as coverage for accommodation, provision of food, medication and more.

To Sum Up

The PM Health Insurance scheme proved to be a revolutionary step in the sphere of healthcare in India. It has significantly increased health standards and provided much-needed medical care to the underprivileged population in India. Challenges arise in the launch of any scheme, but the PM Insurance Yojana evolved and is now the world’s largest government-funded healthcare insurance scheme.