Page 11 - Insurance Times March 2021

Health Insurance

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Ayushman Bharat continue to be issued free of charge, Ayushman card issuance to Common
the government said. "With the Service Centres (CSC), and other such
entitlement cards free of introduction of special PVC Ayushman associated organisations.
cost through CSCs cards issued completely free and The PVC cards will be manufactured at
Beneficiaries under Ayushman Bharat replacement of paper-based cards, a centralised location to ensure
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana beneficiaries will now be able to store uniformity and quality of the Ayushman
(PM-JAY) can now procure their them easily at home," Ram Sewak cards distributed Pan-India. The State
Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, NHA.
entitlement cards free of cost. The specific instructions/information would
government waived off the fee of Rs. While the card is not an essential be printed at the back of the e-card.
30 per card that beneficiaries until requirement to avail healthcare These will be dispatched to the VLEs
now were required to pay to village benefits under the AB PM-JAY scheme, who have generated the PM-JAY ID,
level entrepreneurs field level it is part of mechanism for the from where PVC Ayushman Card can
operators under the common service identification and verification of be collected after bio-authentication.
centres (CSC) across the country. beneficiaries to enable seamless
delivery of health services to patients R S Sharma to take over as
However, for issuance of duplicate card
or reprints, Rs. 15, excluding taxes, and prevent any kind of malpractice Ayushman Bharat chief
shall be charged from the beneficiary and fraud. Government has decided on a top-level
by the CSC. "Doing away with the Rs. 30 change at the National Health
The arrangement came after the processing charged for each Ayushman Authority (NHA), which is responsible
National Health Authority (NHA), the card will have a high impact at the last for implementing the country's flagship
government agency responsible for mile as the poor still see paying for a public health insurance scheme
implementation and management of Government scheme card as an Ayushman Bharat or Pradhan Mantri
the scheme signed a memorandum of expense they can avoid. Taking the Jan Arogya Yojana.
understating (MoU) with CSCs under momentum forward, beneficiaries can Indu Bhushan, CEO of NHA, would be
the Ministry of Electronics and visit any of the CSCs across India to replaced by RS Sharma, former
Information Technology. The MoU is check and validate their entitlement chairman of the Telecom Regulatory
aimed at generating new PVC and get the benefit of the scheme
Authority of India it is learnt. Sharma
beneficiary cards called "Ayushman absolutely free of cost," said Dinesh
had recently been named as the
cards" under the PM-JAY and further Tyagi, Managing Director, CSC e- chairperson of an empowered
streamlining and easing the process of Governance Services India Limited. committee for COVID-19 vaccine
service delivery under the scheme.
Under the MoU, it has been decided delivery technology platform-Co-WIN.
Ayushman cards generated at any of that the National Health Authority He was also inducted into the high-
the PM-JAY empanelled hospitals, (NHA) will pay a fixed cost of Rs. 20 level vaccine administration panel
however, were issued for free and will (exclusive of taxes) only for first-time headed by VK Paul.

The Insurance Times, March 2021 11