Government launches Ayushman Bharat Health Scheme for CAPF

Health emergencies and resultant medical treatment expenses can pose a major financial burden. The cost of healthcare services has grown manifold over the last decade putting a greater emphasis on the need for health insurance. Nevertheless, a major population of the country, especially people living in rural areas or those belonging to the lower-income groups do not have a health insurance policy. The most obvious reason is the lack of financial means to afford a health policy apart from lack of insurance awareness and poor internet services. That’s not all. Even the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel often complained about the lack of a comprehensive health cover.

In September 2018, the government of India launched the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) with an aim to provide comprehensive health insurance benefits to the poor and the rural population. Recently, Home Minister Amit Shah has also launched the Ayushman CAPF scheme to cover the health needs of Central Armed Police Force under the PMJAY scheme. Before understanding the Ayushman CAPF benefits and how to obtain an ‘Ayushman CAPF’ card, let’s understand everything about the PMJAY scheme.

Ayushman Bharat Scheme for CAPF Personnel

On 23 January 2021, the Ayushman Bharat Yojana has been launched for Central Armed Police Force across the country. The health insurance scheme referred to as ‘Ayushman CAPF’ offers cashless and paperless treatment facilities to about 28 lakh personnel of CAPF as well as their families. The beneficiaries of the Ayushman CAPF scheme can avail medical treatment facilities at about 24,000 hospitals across the country.

Ayushman CAPH is a joint initiative between the National Health Authority and the Ministry of Home Affairs of India to provide cashless medical treatment facilities to the beneficiaries. It was launched by Home Minister Amit Shah on the 125^th birth anniversary of freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The idea was to extend the benefits of this flagship health initiative to the brave CAPF personnel, who protect the border of our country. The coverage offered under the Ayushman CAPF scheme are similar to the PMJAY scheme for the poor and the people living in rural areas.

Just like the regular PMJAY scheme, the CAPF personnel also need an ‘Ayushman CAPF’ card to avail cashless services at network/ empanelled hospitals. In fact, Mr Shah distributed a few Ayushman CAPF card to some of the force personnel. The government plans to complete the process of offering the Ayushman CAPF card to all personnel of CAPF by 1^st May 2021.

Under the Ayushman CAPF scheme, the beneficiary can avail cashless treatment at CAPF, government-owned facilities as well as network private hospitals. To avail cashless treatment at a network private hospital, the beneficiary needs to be referred by the CAPF or government-owned facilities to a network private hospital. The beneficiary will need to register at the network hospital with the help of their activated Ayushman CAPF card.

However, the beneficiaries can also be reimbursed for any self-paid medical treatment. The reimbursement claim can be made in case self-paid services were availed at CAPF, government-owned facilities or a non-network hospital during an emergency. Reimbursement claims can be filed at PMJAY’s official website by login in with the help of the Ayushman CAPF ID and submitting necessary documents, such as referral slip, prescription, invoices, etc.  The claim amount will be paid in the bank account of the CAPF personnel after claim approval.

Benefits of Ayushman CAPF Scheme

Here are some of the Ayushman CAPF benefits:

• Comprehensive Cover - The Ayushman CAPF scheme provides comprehensive coverage to the beneficiaries that include in-patient hospitalization expenses, OPD expenses as well as post-hospitalization cost.
• Cashless Treatment - The scheme enables CAPF personnel and their families to avail cashless medical treatment at government-owned, CAPF facilities or network private hospitals.
• Portability - It allows the beneficiaries to avail medical treatment across the country. The facilities are not restricted to just one city or state.
• Dedicated Grievance Cell - The scheme comes with a dedicated online grievance cell that is available for help round the clock. They deal with any instances of abuse or fraud while monitoring the dashboards on a real-time basis.
• Health Benefit Packages - One of the best Ayushman CAPF benefits is that it provides a wide range of health benefit packages. The beneficiary can avail cashless treatment for any of the health packages.
• Self-Paid Services - It also reimburses the money paid towards any self-paid services availed at government-owned or CAPF facilities, such as medicines, implants, diagnostic services, etc. It also reimburses self-paid services availed at non-network hospitals in case of an emergency.
• Paperless Services - The scheme offers paperless services to the beneficiaries as the whole process is carried out online. This ensures greater convenience and ease for the beneficiaries.

Who Can Avail Ayushman CAPF Benefits? 

The Ayushman CAPF benefits can be availed by the personnel of seven forces under the Central Armed Police Force  along with their families/ dependents. Take a look at the list of seven CAPF who can avail the Ayushman CAPF benefits:

• Assam Rifles
• Border Security Force (BSF)
• Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
• National Security Guard (NSG)
• Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)
• Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)
• Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)

How to Obtain an Ayushman CAPF Card? 

The personnel of all seven forces under the Central Armed Police Force can obtain the Ayushman CAPF card from their respective forces. However, the Ayushman CAPF card needs to be activated at a network private hospital. An authentication process will be conducted at the time of activating the card. For the purpose of authentication, the beneficiary will have to submit a copy of their force ID along with their Aadhaar card or any other government photo ID. 

The CAPF personnel can also obtain their Ayushman CAPF card from the Pradhan Mantri Aarogya Mitra (PMAM). The PMAM can be found at a network private hospital after presenting the required documents.

Summing It Up 

The Ayushman CAPF scheme is a convergence scheme between the Central Armed Police Force and Ayushman Bharat that has been implemented by the IT platform of PMJAY. The Ayushman CAPF benefits the serving personnel of all seven forces along with their family members. It will enable them to get comprehensive cashless health coverage at network public and private hospitals. Make sure to activate your Ayushman CAPF card to avail the services at the network hospitals once you receive them.