How to apply for Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY

Before you pay anyone for an Ayushman card, check whether your family is already on the PM-JAY list. Open the NHA beneficiary portal, then collect the golden card at an empanelled hospital kiosk. ABHA is a separate health ID, not the insurance card.

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) is run by the National Health Authority. It is not an open enrolment insurance you buy. Most families are already on a list, or they are not.

Start with the official beneficiary search, not a shop counter.

1. Open beneficiary.nha.gov.in.
2. Search with the details the page asks for: often mobile OTP, Aadhaar, ration card, or name plus state.
3. Read the result. Eligible means the family is on the PM-JAY or state-extension list the portal uses.
4. If the portal says you are not eligible, do not pay an agent to “add” you overnight.

Eligibility for the core scheme has long used SECC deprivation and occupational categories, plus state extension lists. States can add extra families under their own health-cover brands. Those extra names still have to show up on the NHA or state beneficiary system.

There is no useful all-India self-declaration form that turns an ineligible household into a PM-JAY family. If your state runs a wider scheme, the state health department page is the place to read that rule.

Bring Aadhaar for each member you want on the card. A valid Aadhaar and, where the kiosk asks, a ration card are the usual identity papers. Name spelling should match.

Cover amount: this page does not print a family rupee cap. Confirm the cover printed on your PM-JAY e-card, the hospital kiosk screen, and pmjay.gov.in. Packages and rules sit on the official site, not on an agent's flyer.

PM-JAY is free for eligible families. You do not pay to be searched, to print the card, or to start a cashless admission at an empanelled hospital for covered care.

People mix three different things. Only one of them is the Ayushman insurance card.

Create ABHA if you want a health ID. It does not make you a PM-JAY beneficiary. A golden card does not replace ABHA for digital health records. You may hold both.

If a kiosk operator says you must first buy ABHA for a fee, walk away. ABHA registration on the official site is a government health-ID process, not a PM-JAY gate fee.

Once the beneficiary portal shows the family as eligible, get the card printed where PM-JAY actually works: an empanelled hospital Ayushman desk, an Ayushman Mitra kiosk, or a CSC that the state has enabled.

Verb-led steps at the kiosk

1. Carry Aadhaar for each member who should appear.
2. Carry the mobile number used for OTP.
3. Ask the Ayushman Mitra or kiosk to pull the family from the NHA list.
4. Complete biometric or OTP authentication the desk shows.
5. Check names, age, and relationship on the screen before print.
6. Take the e-card or PVC the desk issues. Photograph the QR.
7. Keep the print. The e-card on the app or SMS also works at many hospitals.

Same-day print is common when the name is already on the list and Aadhaar authenticates. If the kiosk says “not in database”, believe the NHA portal more than the operator. Re-check beneficiary.nha.gov.in yourself.

For treatment, walk into an empanelled hospital with the golden card and Aadhaar. The hospital raises the request on the PM-JAY system. Unlisted private clinics are outside this path.

Find empanelled hospitals from pmjay.gov.in, not from a printed pamphlet with a UPI id.

Use only these government hosts:

• Scheme information: https://www.pmjay.gov.in
• Am I eligible / beneficiary search: https://beneficiary.nha.gov.in
• National Health Authority: https://nha.gov.in
• ABHA (different product): https://abha.abdm.gov.in

Bookmark the URLs. Search ads often sit above the real site. A page that is not .gov.in is not NHA.

Ayushman status: return to the beneficiary portal or the PM-JAY app the official site names. Status of a hospital claim is a hospital and SHA record, not something an agent can refresh for cash.

If a hospital refuses cashless care even though you are on the list and the hospital is empanelled, use the grievance link on pmjay.gov.in. Note the hospital name, the date, and the denial reason.

Typical traps:

• A cyber cafe that already knows you are eligible, prints the free card, then charges as if they created the right.
• A WhatsApp form that collects Aadhaar photos “for Ayushman”.
• A promise to add a relative who is not in the family unit the portal shows.
• Selling ABHA as if it were the golden card.

If you already paid, stop further OTPs. Check the beneficiary portal yourself. Complain through the official grievance route and, if needed, the police cyber cell. For a wider civic-emergency map see Citizen Crisis Response Network.

RTI will not invent eligibility that the SECC or state list does not give. It will force a written answer on whether your family is on the list, which database was used, and why a kiosk or hospital denied the card or cashless care.

File under RTI Act 2005 s.6(1) to the Public Information Officer of the State Health Agency / State Ayushman office for your state, or to the district implementation unit if that is where the file sits. NHA holds central records; many operational files sit with the state agency.

Reply is due in 30 days under s.7(1). First appeal under s.19(1) if there is silence. Draft with the AI RTI Drafter. Appeal with the First Appeal Builder.

To
The Public Information Officer
State Health Agency / District Ayushman implementation unit
[District, State]

Subject: Information under s.6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005: PM-JAY eligibility / card / claim

1. Whether family of [Name], Aadhaar last four [XXXX], ration card [NUMBER] if any, is present on the PM-JAY or state-extension beneficiary list used in this district, and on which date that list was last updated.
2. The source database used for that result (SECC, state scheme list, or other), and a copy of the relevant family row with personal identifiers masked if required.
3. If a golden card or e-card was refused at [hospital or CSC] on [date]: the recorded reason and the name of the operator or Ayushman Mitra.
4. If cashless admission was refused at empanelled hospital [name] on [date]: copy of the denial / rejection note on the PM-JAY system.
5. The grievance number if any, its current status, and the officer responsible for disposal.

Please reply within 30 days under s.7(1). Transfer under s.6(3) if another public authority holds the record.

Keep the portal screenshot and the hospital receipt. RTI sits beside, not instead of, the NHA grievance form.

First search beneficiary.nha.gov.in. If the family is eligible, print the golden card at an empanelled hospital kiosk or an enabled CSC. There is no useful paid “new registration” for people who are not on the list.

It is the PM-JAY beneficiary e-card, often printed as a golden-coloured card. Show it with Aadhaar at empanelled hospitals. Cover is whatever the e-card and NHA currently print, not a figure from social media.

No. ABHA is a health account ID at abha.abdm.gov.in. The Ayushman / PM-JAY card is proof of scheme eligibility. One is not a substitute for the other.

Use the NHA beneficiary portal with the mobile or Aadhaar the family registered. For a running hospital claim, ask the Ayushman Mitra for the PM-JAY reference and also use the grievance / status tools linked from pmjay.gov.in.

Only if a state extension list or a later notified category has added you, and the beneficiary portal shows it. An agent cannot insert a name into SECC 2011.

No. Eligible families do not pay a government fee for search or card print. Treat any “approval fee” as a warning sign.

At empanelled PM-JAY hospitals for covered in-patient packages the system allows. Confirm empanelment on the official PM-JAY site before you travel.

• How to apply for Aadhaar
• How to apply for a ration card
• All how-to-apply guides
• Citizen Crisis Response Network
• AI RTI Drafter
• The RTI Playbook
• State RTI portals directory

• PM-JAY: https://www.pmjay.gov.in
• NHA beneficiary portal: https://beneficiary.nha.gov.in
• National Health Authority: https://nha.gov.in
• ABHA: https://abha.abdm.gov.in
• RTI Act, 2005: s.6(1), s.7(1), s.19(1)

Reviewed for RTI Wiki by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak.