Historically, the financing of public healthcare in India was largely supply-side driven. However, with the recent rise in number of publicly financed health insurance schemes, there is a transition to demand-side approach for financing healthcare. India’s total health expenditure (THE) as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) has decreased since the last 10 years. THE per capita for India is lower than the average of other Low Middle-Income Countries. In 2015-16, the Government health expenditure (GHE) made up a small share of the Total Health Expenditure. GHE as a share of general government expenditure (GGE) is smaller than the recommended 15% of the government budget. Out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure makes up 60.59% of THE. Despite the presence of public health care, a major portion of health care (about 70%) in India is provided by the private health sector and paid for by patient out-of-pocket. Out-of-pocket health care expenditure is one of the major causes of catastrophic expenses and impoverishment in many households in India. The public expenditure on health care is very low at about 2% of the GDP. This combined with the escalating cost of health care in the private sector has made specialty health care inaccessible for more than 30% of the Indian population who live below the poverty line. AB- PMJAY is the world’s largest publicly funded health insurance scheme that caters to the healthcare needs of the bottom 40 percent Indians. The scheme subsumes the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, the previous National Health Insurance Scheme. PMJAY scheme provides States enough flexibility in terms of packages, procedures and scheme design while ensuring that, the key benefits of portability and fraud detection are ensured at a national level. The main objective of study is to assess the impact of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana on Financial Risk Protection and Utilization of healthcare services in the State of Haryana Research Questions: i. Has the scheme had any impact on the burden of out-of-pocket (OOP) among the enrolled households? What is the extent of impact on OOPE? Impact on the incidence and intensity of such payments – dis-aggregated by in-patient and total OOP Expenditure. ii. Has the Scheme reduced the burden of catastrophic expenditure among the beneficiary households? What is the extent of reduction in such payments? iii. What has been the income and wage loss due to illness? How has the scheme helped to save or avert income loss of households? iv. Awareness and Enrolment under PMJAY – status Action taken to reach Thesis Submission Stage: IN order to assess the impact of AB-PMJAY on Health care financing and utilization, a baseline study of implementation of AB-PMJAY in “Greenfield” State of Haryana, was conducted in 2023. In order to carry out research, data from State Health Authority AB-PMJAY Haryana was requested. Type of data used includes: government budget allocations, Claims handled, MIS Analytics with use of AI and Machine learning, details of ECHP- hospitals empaneled, packages created etc of last few years. Identification of districts was mapped in order to have a stable sample size, representing high user and low user group districts. Data was accessed and a questionnaire was designed to analyze responses from sample cases regarding utilization of services under AB-PMJAY. A “Control group” was identified to carry out statistical research experiment. Beneficiaries of the scheme were interviewed to generate a 360-degree assessment of OOPE and issues relating to access and equity in scheme utilization. A Quantitative and Qualitative analysis was carried out in order to conduct a “holistic” research perspective to generate evidence for status of implementation and identify “bottlenecks “or problem areas faced in achievement of UHC by AB-PMJAY in Haryana. Results have been processed and detail analysis is being undertaken for furhtur publication in an academic journal . An infographic has also been prepared in order to This allowed in depth analysis of AB-PMJAY regarding utilization, extent and impact of OOPE, Health care financing. This is expected to enable us to identify those groups of “individuals/vulnerable groups’ which are to be better targeted for achievement of UHC through AB- PMJAY in Haryana. Other data sources, like Annual reports, original research papers, Assembly discussions, Questions asked by public representatives, policy documents will be referred to gather in depth understanding of the functioning of the scheme in Haryana context. These outcomes are designed to enable researchers and policy makers to improve the functioning of the Scheme and to ensure achievement of Universal health Care in Haryana. This activity of conducting original research, data collection from primary and secondary sources, analysis thereof and report writing is complete and results have been shared separately.