What you get

• Health cover of up to ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospital treatment.
• Treatment is cashless and paperless at public hospitals and empanelled private hospitals; eligible people pay nothing to be covered.
• Covers 3 days of expenses before hospitalisation and 15 days after.
• All pre-existing diseases are covered from day one.
• No cap on family size; all members of an eligible family are covered, whatever their age or gender.
• Portability: treatment can be taken at empanelled hospitals anywhere in India.
• Citizens aged 70 and above get a separate Ayushman Vay Vandana Card with cover of up to ₹5 lakh a year.
• A person aged 70+ whose family is already covered gets an extra top-up of up to ₹5 lakh a year for themselves, not shared with younger family members.
• A person aged 70+ whose family is not already covered gets up to ₹5 lakh a year on a family basis.
• Covers about 2,000 treatment procedures (the official count is revised from time to time).

Who can apply

• Families identified by the government from the SECC 2011 database: deprivation criteria in rural areas and 11 occupational criteria in urban areas. There is no separate enrolment; being on the list is the entitlement.
• Families with an active RSBY card as of 28 February 2018 are covered.
• ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and Anganwadi helpers and their families are covered.
• Every citizen aged 70 years or above, irrespective of income or socio-economic status (Ayushman Vay Vandana Card).
• People aged 70+ with private health insurance or under the Employees' State Insurance scheme can also use PM-JAY.
• People aged 70+ already in CGHS, ECHS or Ayushman CAPF must choose either their existing scheme or PM-JAY.
• Available in all States and UTs: West Bengal became the 36th State/UT to implement the scheme in June 2026.

Documents usually needed

• Aadhaar or any government ID, and a ration card or other family ID, are used to verify identity and family when the Ayushman card is made.

How to apply

1. For the family cover: visit an empanelled hospital or a Common Service Centre (CSC). The operator (Arogya Mitra) searches for your name in the beneficiary list, verifies your ID and family documents, and an e-card is issued once approved.
2. For people aged 70+: register for the Ayushman Vay Vandana Card at the nearest empanelled hospital, or self-register on the Ayushman app (Google Play Store) or at beneficiary.nha.gov.in.
3. For help, call the toll-free number 14555 or give a missed call on 1800110770.