A key parliamentary panel has proposed increasing the health insurance coverage available under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) from ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh per family. The recommendation has been made in the 172nd Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, which says the current insurance limit may no longer be adequate given the rising cost of medical treatment.
The committee observed that while the scheme has helped millions of eligible families access hospital care, the existing coverage is often insufficient for patients requiring high-cost procedures. It noted that advances in healthcare, expensive treatment protocols and longer durations of care have significantly increased the overall cost of managing serious illnesses.
According to the report, beneficiaries undergoing treatments such as organ transplantation, complex heart surgeries, cancer immunotherapy and other specialised tertiary-care procedures may exhaust the present insurance limit, leaving families to bear substantial medical expenses themselves.
The panel has therefore recommended doubling the financial protection offered under the scheme. It believes a higher insurance ceiling would reduce out-of-pocket expenditure, particularly for economically vulnerable households, and enable more patients to receive timely treatment without the added burden of financial distress.
The recommendation also supports the broader objective of strengthening universal health coverage in India. By expanding the insurance limit, the committee expects improved access to quality healthcare, greater financial protection for low-income families and reduced risk of catastrophic healthcare spending.
Introduced in 2018, Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY is one of the world’s largest publicly funded health assurance programmes. It provides eligible beneficiaries with cashless treatment for secondary and tertiary care through a nationwide network of empanelled public and private hospitals.
The proposal is currently a recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee and has not yet been approved by the Government of India. Any revision in insurance coverage will require official acceptance and subsequent implementation by the government.
If the recommendation is accepted, it could mark one of the most significant enhancements to the Ayushman Bharat scheme since its launch. A higher insurance limit would offer stronger financial protection to eligible families and help improve access to advanced medical care as healthcare costs continue to rise across the country.