Ayushman Bharat is India’s flagship health-protection programme, launched by the Government of India to move the country towards Universal Health Coverage. It has two pillars: the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), the world’s largest government-funded health assurance scheme offering ₹5 lakh of free hospital cover per family per year, and a network of primary-care Ayushman Arogya Mandirs. This Ayushman Bharat history timeline traces the scheme from its policy roots in the 2000s, through its 2018 launch and the 2021 Digital Health Mission (ABHA), to the 2024 senior-citizen expansion and 2026’s AI-driven reforms. Every figure here is drawn from official Government of India, National Health Authority and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare sources, with editorial analysis kept separate from verified data.
Ayushman Bharat is a Government of India health initiative launched in 2018. Its main component, PM-JAY, gives over 12 crore poor and vulnerable families (around 55 crore people) ₹5 lakh a year of cashless, paperless hospital treatment at public and private empanelled hospitals. Its digital arm, the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), gives every resident a 14-digit ABHA health ID. Since 2024 all citizens aged 70 and above are covered regardless of income via the Ayushman Vay Vandana Card. As of February 2026 the National Health Authority reported 43.52 crore Ayushman cards and 36,229 empanelled hospitals. It is implemented by the National Health Authority.
Six defining numbers, from official National Health Authority data (as of February 2026).
Beneficiary Impact
Beneficiary Impact
Healthcare Impact
Financial Significance
Digital Health
Policy Update
Reverse chronological — latest updates first, the pre-2018 policy roots last.
Government announcement: the National Health Authority launched SAHI (Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare for India), shifting fraud control from reactive detection to proactive integrity management. AI and machine-learning checks, plus Aadhaar-based face authentication at admission and discharge, now screen claims in real time.
Beneficiary impact: as of February 2026 the scheme reported 43.52 crore Ayushman cards (including 1.14 crore for senior citizens) and 36,229 empanelled hospitals, with 11.69 crore hospital admissions worth ₹1.73 lakh crore authorised since launch.
Beneficiary impact: enrolment for the new Ayushman Vay Vandana Card for citizens aged 70+ scaled rapidly through 2025, and the empanelled hospital network continued to widen. Digital health development: ABHA account creation and linked health records grew into the tens of crores as more hospitals, labs and pharmacies joined the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.
Policy update: the Union Cabinet approved (11 September 2024) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched (29 October 2024) the Ayushman Vay Vandana Card, extending PM-JAY to all citizens aged 70 and above regardless of income. Beneficiary impact: eligible seniors receive ₹5 lakh of cover; those in families already under PM-JAY get an additional ₹5 lakh top-up reserved for the elderly.
Government announcement: the Union Health Ministry directed states to rename Ayushman Bharat Health & Wellness Centres as Ayushman Arogya Mandir, with the tagline Arogyam Paramam Dhanam (“health is the supreme wealth”). Healthcare impact: these centres deliver comprehensive primary care, screening for non-communicable diseases, free essential drugs and diagnostics closer to home. ABHA adoption and health-record linkage accelerated through the year.
Digital health development: the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission expanded its four core registries — the Health Facility Registry, Healthcare Professionals Registry, ABHA identities and the consent-based Health Information Exchange — onboarding more facilities and enabling telemedicine and digital records. Policy update: the government also refreshed the PM-JAY beneficiary base to reflect population growth, raising the covered pool towards 12 crore families.
Government announcement: the Prime Minister launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) nationwide on 27 September 2021, scaling up the pilot into India’s digital health backbone with the ABHA health ID. In October 2021 the government also launched the PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) to strengthen primary, secondary and tertiary care and disease surveillance after COVID-19.
Healthcare impact: during the COVID-19 pandemic, PM-JAY was used to provide free testing and treatment for beneficiaries, cushioning families against catastrophic health costs at a time of crisis. Digital health development: on 15 August 2020 the Prime Minister announced the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), piloting the unique health ID in six union territories — the foundation of what became ABDM.
Policy update: in early 2019 the National Health Agency was reconstituted as the National Health Authority (NHA), an attached office of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, to implement PM-JAY. Beneficiary impact: in its first full year the scheme scaled quickly as more states and union territories signed on, with several running the programme in partnership through State Health Agencies.
Government announcement: Ayushman Bharat was unveiled in the Union Budget on 1 February 2018. Its first pillar, the Health & Wellness Centres, was launched on 14 April 2018 in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi then launched PM-JAY on 23 September 2018 at Ranchi, Jharkhand, with nationwide rollout from 25 September 2018.
Beneficiary impact: PM-JAY offered ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospitalisation to about 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families (roughly 50 crore people) identified from the SECC 2011 database, with no cap on family size or age.
Policy update: the National Health Policy 2017 set out the vision of Universal Health Coverage, a wellness-centric approach and the use of digital technology in health — the intellectual foundation for both PM-JAY and the later digital mission. It recommended raising public health spending and assuring financial protection against catastrophic hospital costs.
Analysis / context: Ayushman Bharat built on two decades of public-health reform. The National Rural Health Mission (2005) strengthened rural healthcare, while the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), launched in 2008, gave below-poverty-line families around ₹30,000 of hospital insurance — a direct forerunner of PM-JAY. State schemes in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and others also pioneered large-scale government health assurance.
Objectives, eligibility, coverage and how cashless treatment works.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) is the health-assurance arm of Ayushman Bharat. Its objective is to protect India’s poorest 40% from catastrophic health expenditure — the out-of-pocket hospital bills that push families into poverty — by providing ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care, entirely funded by the government.
Eligibility is based on the deprivation and occupational criteria of the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011, not on enrolment or premiums — there is no cap on family size, age or gender. From October 2024, all citizens aged 70 and above are additionally eligible regardless of income. Coverage spans over 1,900 medical and surgical procedures across 27 specialties, including pre-existing conditions from day one, three days of pre-hospitalisation and 15 days of post-hospitalisation care, diagnostics and medicines.
Cashless treatment works through a network of empanelled public and private hospitals. A beneficiary presents their Ayushman card or verifies identity (increasingly with Aadhaar-based authentication); the hospital’s Ayushman Mitra helpdesk confirms eligibility, treatment is delivered without payment, and the hospital claims reimbursement from the State Health Agency under packaged rates. Because benefits are portable across India, an eligible patient can be treated in any empanelled hospital nationwide, not only in their home state. PM-JAY is funded jointly by the central and state governments, generally in a 60:40 ratio (90:10 for most north-eastern and Himalayan states).
How India’s digital health backbone works.
The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), launched nationally on 27 September 2021, is building the digital rails for Indian healthcare. Its centrepiece is the ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) — a free 14-digit health ID any resident can generate using Aadhaar or a mobile number through the ABHA app or the official portal.
ABHA lets a person build a longitudinal electronic health record and share it, through consent-based data sharing, across hospitals, clinics, labs and pharmacies. ABDM rests on interoperable registries — the Health Facility Registry (HFR) of hospitals and labs, the Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) of doctors and nurses — connected by a Health Information Exchange and Consent Manager that moves records only with the patient’s permission. By February 2026 more than 86 crore ABHA accounts had been created and over 90 crore health records linked, making ABDM one of the largest digital health rollouts in the world. It is important to note that ABHA is about health records; PM-JAY is about health financing — the two are complementary parts of Ayushman Bharat.
What PM-JAY covers — and what it does not.
| Feature | PM-JAY Provision |
|---|---|
| Coverage amount | ₹5 lakh per family per year (floating; shared across members) |
| Type of care | Secondary & tertiary hospitalisation (inpatient) |
| Procedures | 1,900+ across 27 specialties (cardiology, oncology, orthopaedics, neurosurgery and more) |
| Pre-existing diseases | Covered from day one, no waiting period |
| Family size / age | No cap on size, age or gender |
| Pre & post hospitalisation | 3 days before and up to 15 days after, incl. diagnostics & medicines |
| Cost to patient | Cashless and paperless at empanelled hospitals |
| Portability | Valid at any empanelled hospital across India |
| Typical exclusions | Routine outpatient (OPD), cosmetic procedures, fertility treatment and drug rehabilitation are generally not covered |
PM-JAY eligibility pathways (verify your status on pmjay.gov.in).
| Pathway | Basis | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rural families | SECC 2011 deprivation criteria (e.g. kutcha house, no adult earner, SC/ST, landless labour) | Automatically eligible; no enrolment fee |
| Urban families | SECC 2011 occupational categories (e.g. ragpicker, domestic worker, construction worker) | Automatically eligible; no enrolment fee |
| Senior citizens 70+ | Age (since October 2024) | All incomes eligible via Ayushman Vay Vandana Card |
| Former RSBY families | Legacy inclusion | RSBY beneficiaries were folded into PM-JAY |
You can check eligibility and find empanelled hospitals on the official portal pmjay.gov.in, via the Ayushman App, or at a Common Service Centre or empanelled hospital helpdesk. Eligibility rules and covered procedures are set by the National Health Authority and can change; this table is an editorial summary, not an official determination.
Official National Health Authority figures, as of February 2026.
| Indicator | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ayushman cards created | 43.52 crore | Incl. 1.14 crore for citizens aged 70+ |
| Hospitals empanelled | 36,229 | 19,483 public + 16,746 private |
| Hospital admissions authorised | 11.69 crore | Since launch |
| Value of treatments | ₹1.73 lakh crore | Cumulative authorised value |
| ABHA accounts created | 86 crore+ | Under ABDM |
| Health records linked | 90 crore+ | To ABHA accounts |
| Procedures covered | 1,900+ | Across 27 specialties |
| Fraud prevented (AI/ML) | ~₹630 crore | Over two years; 210 hospitals de-empanelled |
These are official figures reported by the National Health Authority as of February 2026. Because the scheme is live, numbers rise continually — always confirm the latest data on the government dashboards at pmjay.gov.in and dashboard.pmjay.gov.in.
| Feature | RSBY (2008) | PM-JAY (2018) |
|---|---|---|
| Cover per family / year | ~₹30,000 | ₹5 lakh |
| Care level | Mainly secondary | Secondary & tertiary |
| Family size cap | Up to 5 members | No cap |
| Enrolment fee | ₹30 registration | None |
| Beneficiaries | BPL families | 12+ crore families + 70+ seniors |
| Portability | Limited | Pan-India |
A general guide — follow the official process on pmjay.gov.in.
1. Check eligibility. Visit pmjay.gov.in or open the Ayushman App and search using your mobile number, ration card or Aadhaar to see if your family is on the list. 2. Complete e-KYC. Verify your identity with Aadhaar-based e-KYC and upload a photograph. 3. Get it approved. The self-registration is verified; on approval your Ayushman card is generated. 4. Download the card. Download or print your card, or collect it from a Common Service Centre, empanelled hospital helpdesk or Ayushman Arogya Mandir. Seniors aged 70+ apply the same way for the Ayushman Vay Vandana Card. There is no fee to enrol.
| Myth | Fact |
|---|---|
| “You must pay a premium to join PM-JAY.” | PM-JAY is fully government-funded; eligible families pay nothing to enrol or be treated. |
| “Only government hospitals accept it.” | Thousands of private hospitals are empanelled alongside public ones — 16,746 private facilities as of Feb 2026. |
| “Pre-existing illnesses are excluded.” | Pre-existing conditions are covered from day one, with no waiting period. |
| “It only works in your home state.” | Benefits are portable; an eligible patient can be treated at any empanelled hospital in India. |
| “ABHA and PM-JAY are the same thing.” | ABHA is a digital health record ID; PM-JAY is the financial cover. They are separate parts of Ayushman Bharat. |
Formed in 2019 from the National Health Agency, the NHA is the apex body that designs and runs PM-JAY and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, working with State Health Agencies.
The Union ministry responsible for national health policy, under which the NHA operates and which sets the overall direction for Ayushman Bharat.
Launched in 2021, ABDM builds India’s digital health infrastructure — the ABHA ID, health-facility and professional registries and a consent-based health information exchange.
The Ayushman Bharat Health Account: a free 14-digit ID that lets any resident hold and share a digital health record. Over 86 crore had been created by February 2026.
The renamed Health & Wellness Centres delivering primary care, NCD screening, free drugs and diagnostics — the first pillar of Ayushman Bharat, launched in 2018.
The Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 provides the deprivation and occupational criteria that identify PM-JAY’s core beneficiary families.
The most-searched questions about Ayushman Bharat, answered with verified official figures.
Answers based on official Government of India and National Health Authority information.