Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) 2026

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, or PM-JAY, is the health cover scheme under Ayushman Bharat. It started on 23 September 2018. The National Health Authority (NHA) runs it with the states. It is often called the Ayushman Bharat Yojana or the Ayushman card scheme.

Each eligible family gets cover of up to ₹5 lakh a year for treatment in hospital. The family pays no premium. At an empanelled hospital (a hospital on the scheme list), treatment is cashless: the hospital is paid by the scheme, not by you. It is also paperless: you show your Ayushman card or Aadhaar, and the hospital checks you online. The cover is for about 12 crore families, plus all people aged 70 or more.

1. Step 1Check your nameOn the beneficiary portal or the Ayushman app.
2. Step 2Do Aadhaar e-KYCFree, online or at a CSC or hospital.
3. Step 3Get the Ayushman cardDownload it, no fee.
4. Step 4Cashless treatmentUp to ₹5 lakh a family a year.

These are the main PM-JAY scheme details, as given by the National Health Authority:

• ₹5 lakh a family a year for secondary and tertiary care (treatment in hospital, including big operations).
• Before and after the stay: up to 3 days of costs before admission and 15 days after discharge, such as tests and medicines, are included.
• 1,961 procedures in 27 specialities are listed in the national Health Benefit Package (HBP). Each has a fixed package rate that covers the bed, doctor fees, medicines, tests, implants, food and the operation. States can add more procedures.
• Pre-existing diseases are covered from day one. There is no waiting period and no medical check to join.
• No limit on family size or age. Every member on the family's record is covered.
• All-India portability: you can use the card at an empanelled hospital in any state, not only your own.
• Free: no premium, no fee for the card and no payment at the hospital for covered treatment.

By 21 September 2026, more than 48.51 crore Ayushman cards had been made, and the scheme had paid for about 13.25 crore hospital admissions worth about ₹2.03 lakh crore.

The ₹5 lakh is a family floater. All members of the family share one limit for the year. It is not ₹5 lakh for each person. If the bills in a year go above ₹5 lakh, the scheme pays up to the limit and the rest is not covered.

Members aged 70 or more in an already covered family have their own extra ₹5 lakh. That top-up is shared only by those seniors, so their bills do not use up the cover of the younger members. See the senior citizens section below.

PM-JAY does not ask you to apply with an income certificate. Families were picked from the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data. Later, the government and states added more families. A family is eligible in any one of the ways below.

Rural families (SECC 2011): a household with any one of these deprivation criteria is covered.

Included automatically in rural areas: households without shelter, destitute households living on alms, manual scavenger families, primitive tribal groups, legally released bonded labourers.

Urban families (SECC 2011): households of workers in these 11 occupation groups are covered.

• Rag picker
• Beggar
• Domestic worker
• Street vendor, cobbler, hawker or other service provider on the street
• Construction worker, plumber, mason, labourer, painter, welder, security guard, coolie or head-load worker
• Sweeper, sanitation worker or gardener (mali)
• Home-based worker, artisan, handicrafts worker or tailor
• Transport worker: driver, conductor, helper, cart or rickshaw puller
• Shop worker, assistant, peon in a small office, helper, delivery boy, attendant or waiter
• Electrician, mechanic, assembler or repair worker
• Washerman or chowkidar (watchman)

Added later:

State schemes: many states run PM-JAY together with their own health scheme, under a joint name. These merged schemes can cover more families, or give more than ₹5 lakh, at the state's cost. On 8 June 2026, West Bengal signed up as the 36th state or UT, so PM-JAY now runs in all states and UTs. Your state health agency can tell you its exact rules.

There is no income limit written into PM-JAY, and no income certificate is needed. Eligibility depends on whether your family is on the SECC 2011 list, a state or NFSA list, or one of the added groups. Because SECC 2011 left out better-off households (for example those with a government job, a car or an income tax payer), most middle-class families below age 70 are not on the list.

For people aged 70 or more, income does not matter at all. A retired bank officer and a farm worker of the same age can both get the Ayushman Vay Vandana card.

From 29 October 2024, every person aged 70 or more can join PM-JAY, whatever their income. The Union Cabinet approved this on 11 September 2024. It was meant to cover about 6 crore seniors in about 4.5 crore families. Seniors get a separate card called the Ayushman Vay Vandana card.

• Family already on PM-JAY: members aged 70+ get an extra ₹5 lakh a year, shared only among them. They also keep using the family's ₹5 lakh.
• New family: if the family was not eligible before, the members aged 70+ get ₹5 lakh a year, shared among them. Younger members are not covered by this.
• Only the person aged 70+ is covered. If your father is 74 and your mother is 67, only your father gets the card until your mother turns 70.
• CGHS, ECHS or CAPF members: they must choose either their existing scheme or PM-JAY. They cannot use both. See our CGHS guide before choosing.
• Private health insurance or ESI: seniors who have a private health policy or the Employees' State Insurance scheme can still get the Vay Vandana card.

How to enroll for the Vay Vandana card: open the Ayushman app or beneficiary.nha.gov.in, log in with your mobile number, choose the option for age 70+, and complete Aadhaar e-KYC. Age is taken from Aadhaar. You can also enroll at a CSC or at the Ayushman Mitra desk of an empanelled hospital. By 21 September 2026, more than 1.36 crore Vay Vandana cards had been made.

Below age 70, most government employees and their families are not eligible. SECC 2011 left out households with a government job, and they already have their own cover:

• Central government staff and pensioners have CGHS (or medical rules where there is no CGHS).
• Defence pensioners have ECHS, and central armed police forces have their own scheme.
• Most states have a health scheme for their own employees and pensioners. Some states have merged it with PM-JAY; check with your department.
• ASHA and Anganwadi workers and helpers are the main exception: their families are covered.

From age 70, a serving or retired government employee can get the Vay Vandana card like anyone else. A CGHS, ECHS or CAPF member has to choose one scheme: the existing one or PM-JAY.

1. Step 1Open the official portal or appbeneficiary.nha.gov.in or the Ayushman app. Log in with your mobile and OTP.
2. Step 2Check eligibilitySearch by state and Aadhaar, ration card or family ID.
3. Step 3Do e-KYCAadhaar OTP, fingerprint or face. Add a photo.
4. Step 4Download the cardAfter approval, download the Ayushman card. It is free.

Documents: Aadhaar is the main document for e-KYC. Keep a ration card or family ID handy, as the search may ask for it. A mobile number is needed for OTP.

If your name is not on the list and nobody in the family is 70 or more, the official portal will not let you add yourself. Any person who offers to add your name for money is not genuine.

• The Ayushman card does not expire and does not need renewal. You keep it as long as your family stays eligible.
• The ₹5 lakh limit is a yearly limit. It starts again at the start of each policy year. Cover you did not use is not added to the next year.
• If a new member joins the family (for example a new baby or a wife after marriage), they can be added after e-KYC.
• A lost card can be downloaded again free from the portal or app. A printed reprint at a CSC may cost a small fee.

1. Step 1Find a hospitalUse Find Hospital on pmjay.gov.in or the app.
2. Step 2Meet the Ayushman MitraThe PM-JAY help desk at the hospital.
3. Step 3Identity checkCard or Aadhaar, then approval online.
4. Step 4Cashless treatmentNothing to pay for covered treatment.

We do not copy hospital lists here, because they change often. Use the official hospital search on pmjay.gov.in and check that the hospital offers the treatment you need. In an emergency, go to the nearest hospital first, and call 112 if needed. This page does not give medical advice.

1. Step 1Ask the Ayushman MitraAsk for the reason in writing if treatment is refused.
2. Step 2Call 14555The national helpline, 24x7. Toll-free: 1800-111-565.
3. Step 3File a grievanceOn pmjay.gov.in, or with your State Health Agency.
4. Step 4Keep every billMoney taken for covered treatment can be refunded after a complaint.

An empanelled hospital must not ask for money for a treatment that is in the package. Hospitals found taking extra money can be suspended or removed from the scheme.

• OPD: doctor visits and medicines without a hospital stay
• Tests done only to check health, when no admission follows
• Drug rehabilitation programmes
• Cosmetic procedures
• Fertility treatment
• Treatment not on the Health Benefit Package list, unless the state allows it

PM-JAY is health cover only. It pays nothing if a member dies. For life cover, the government's low-cost term plan is explained on our PMJJBY page.

People often mix these up because both carry the Ayushman Bharat name. They are separate things.

The ₹5 lakh cover itself had not been changed as of November 2026.