Taking health insurance cover is an important part of financial planning. More so in the case of senior citizens who need periodic hospitalisation, as medical bills can take away significant slices of their retirement pie.

Some insurers do offer health insurance for senior citizens, but the cover backed by the government itself is generally welcome.

The Centre has announced a new additional health insurance cover under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, directed specifically at senior citizens who are 70 and above.

It is important to understand the features of the policy and also know the mode of enrolment for those new to availing government schemes. Read on for more.

Covering the elders

To be sure, there is already a ₹5-lakh Ayushman Bharat scheme for citizens of all age-groups subject to certain income and other criteria.

The recently-announced scheme covers only senior citizens who are 70 and above. It is in addition to the existing scheme covering all age-groups.

An additional ₹5-lakh health cover is available exclusively for these elders under this scheme.

The following are some of the features and conditions associated with the scheme.

This health insurance policy will be available on a family basis. So, if there are many senior citizens within a family who are 70 and above, the ₹5-lakh cover has to be shared among all of them – they will not get individual covers of ₹5 lakh each. Senior citizens less than 70 are not allowed in this scheme.

There is no income criterion for taking this cover. So, elderly persons from all income groups can take opt for the policy.

For senior citizens who currently avail other government-run options such as ESIC, CGHS etc. can also opt for the new Ayushman Bharat senior citizens health insurance policy. But those who take the new scheme will have to forego the other options such as ESIC and CGHS. In short, they will have to assess the benefits of this scheme and their exiting government schemes to choose one option.

Once an option is chosen, you will not be allowed to go back to the old option. For example, once you opt for the Ayushman Bharat scheme for senior citizens above 70, you cannot avail the CGHS facility if you had been doing so earlier.

The medical cover for ₹5 lakh starts from day one of opting for the scheme. There is no waiting period for taking any treatment, even for pre-existing illnesses.

There is a list of network hospitals that accept the Ayushman Bharat cashless settlement for treatments taken. You must take note of these hospitals and plan your treatments accordingly. This list is available in the Ayushman registration portal.

The insurance cover is free of cost for all income groups.

You must use this opportunity to enrol senior citizens in your family to secure their medical needs.

Enrolling for the policy

The enrolment process is fairly simple. You will need your Aadhaar and mobile phone (if your personal number and the one linked to Aadhaar are different, you will need both).

Enrolment is possible via the Ayushman Bharat website as well as the Ayushman app. The process is similar for both. We illustrate the enrolment process via the website.

The first step is to register in the portal: http://www.beneficiary.nha.gov.in/.

You must choose the beneficiary option on the website. Provide your mobile number. You will then receive an OTP on that number for authentication.

Next, once you log in, you will get to the page that has the link to enrol for the senior citizen health insurance scheme. Once you click the link, you will be asked for your Aadhaar number.

After you provide the number, in case you aren’t an exiting beneficiary, the response would be that there is no record for this Aadhaar number. You would be asked to enrol afresh.

Once again, you are asked for your Aadhaar to complete the eKYC process and enrolment. The user must give consent for Aadhaar eKYC. Once you agree, two OTPs are generated – one to your personal mobile and the other to the one linked to your Aadhaar.

Finally, you are taken to the consent form where you will have to declare any other government medical benefits that you currently avail. In case you don’t take any such benefits, you could click on the ‘none of the above’ option and proceed.

 Once these are done, your eKYC is successful.

Subsequently, you are asked to capture and upload a photo of yours online. Then, you need to give the details of all your family members — irrespective of their age or their being beneficiaries of the regular Ayushman Bharat scheme or not.

Once these are done, your Ayushman Bharat card would be ready for download, usually within 15 minutes of completing all the enrolment procedures.

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