In an effort to eliminate wide variance in the design and nomenclature of beneficiary cards across States and Union Territories, the Central Government is planning a unified identity card for the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
The National Health Authority (NHA), which is responsible for implementing the flagship public health insurance/assurance scheme, is working on this step. “This will clear any confusion among beneficiaries and stakeholders like empanelled hospitals, implementation support agencies, insurance companies and third-party administrators,’’ said a senior Health Ministry official.
The NHA has decided to bring greater integrity and uniformity into the beneficiary cards issued under the scheme by keeping them under a common name “Ayushman cards”, the official said.
Co-branded cards would allot equal space to both PM-JAY and State-specific logos. The name of the scheme would include the State scheme name along with AB PM-JAY. The card would bear information in English and the local language.
Additionally, the NHA has decided to provide full financial support for issuance of co-branded cards to beneficiaries identified by the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) as well as State-specific non-SECC beneficiaries. The Ministry said that 31 out of 33 states have adopted the scheme.
