NEW DELHI: A parliamentary standing committee on health and family welfare has recommended that the age criterion for Ayushman Vay Vandana Cards, meant for senior citizens, be reduced to 60 years and above from 70, irrespective of socio-economic status, for wider coverage.
The committee, headed by Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav, has also suggested revising healthcare coverage under Ayushman Bharat PM Jan Arogya Yojana from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per family annually. The Centre recently expanded ABPMJAY to cover six crore senior citizens aged 70 and above belonging to 4.5 crore families under AB-PMJAY Vay Vandana scheme.

House panel: Release of funds should be linked to performance

The recommendations have been made in “163rd report on demands for grants 2025-26 (demand no. 46) of the department of health and family welfare” that was tabled before both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday. In addition, it recommends proactive monitoring of fund utilisation by states, coupled with targeted support to address any implementation challenges.
The parliamentary committee said the release of funds to states and UTs should be linked to their performance in terms of card creation, hospital admissions, and beneficiary feedback, ensuring that funds are directed to areas of greatest need and impact.
“The committee has come across instances of delay in settlement of claims of empanelled hospitals under ABPMJAY and that the package rates have not been reasonably revised in many states, resulting in inconvenience caused to the patients due to denial of treatment by many empanelled hospitals,” it said.

Focus on infra

Therefore, states and UTs which have not revised package rates “may be persuaded to revise these on similar lines of rates revised by some of states in 2022”, the committee said. On initiatives like ‘Aapke Dwar Ayushman’, the panel said the campaign should not be confined to the creation of Ayushman cards as this is not the only objective of the scheme.
Rather, it recommended that the department of health should make efforts to ensure establishing robust healthcare infrastructure and service delivery in tribal and rural areas