Opinion | PMJAY: The promises and challenges of a bold experiment
6 years, 6 months ago

Opinion | PMJAY: The promises and challenges of a bold experiment

Live Mint  

The Narendra Modi government is better known for its economic programmes such as infrastructure and ease of doing business, than its social programmes. In contrast the Ayushman Bharat—Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, a health insurance scheme announced in the last budget, will only be launched on 23 September, towards the fag end of this government’s tenure. However, the promises and possible challenges deserve close scrutiny as it is arguably the most ambitious social health insurance programme ever launched anywhere in the world. But less than a quarter of India’s meagre public health expenditure is allocated to preventive care. SHI programmes like PMJAY become necessary because consumers do not know in advance whether they will need treatment or not, but if there is a catastrophic health event, the high cost of treatment can impoverish families.

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History of this topic

A status check of universal health coverage in India
1 week, 1 day ago

A status check of universal health coverage in India

The Hindu  

A little over six years ago, what has been proclaimed as the world’s largest health assurance scheme, namely, the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, was rolled out in the face of hitherto scarce evidence of publicly funded health insurance affording significant levels of financial risk protection, particularly to the marginalised. Frequently, inpatient care insurance is linked to …

Kerala Budget: Not a substantial allocation for health care sector
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Kerala Budget: Not a substantial allocation for health care sector

The Hindu  

The outlay of the State Budget presented by Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal in the Assembly on health care, which excludes health-related expenditure such as water and sanitation, is around ₹3,000 crore, which accounts for 1.74% of the proposed total government expenditure. The issue of poor government spending in the health sector had been plaguing the public health-conscious State like …

Healthcare gets an infrastructure and insurance boost
1 month, 3 weeks ago

Healthcare gets an infrastructure and insurance boost

The Hindu  

The Union Budget of 2024-25 provides support to healthcare delivery through increased investment in infrastructure and expansion of the health workforce. This will help in meeting health workforce shortages that are limiting access to needed health services, even as the demand for health services will rise due to a growing and ageing population. This is needed, since the government earlier …

Guest Column| Hospital bill should not be a financial death sentence
1 month, 3 weeks ago

Guest Column| Hospital bill should not be a financial death sentence

Hindustan Times  

As the Union Budget-2025 is presented on February 1, India’s healthcare sector stands at the crossroads, demanding urgent reforms and strategic investments. A hospital bill should not be a financial death sentence, yet India’s healthcare system is marked by stark disparities in costs and service quality across private hospitals. Increase healthcare allocation A nation’s health is its true wealth, yet …

Economic Survey 2025: AB-PMJAY reduced out-of-pocket-expenditure from 62.6% to 39.4%
1 month, 3 weeks ago

Economic Survey 2025: AB-PMJAY reduced out-of-pocket-expenditure from 62.6% to 39.4%

The Hindu  

The Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, India’s health assurance scheme, providing financial protection for secondary and tertiary healthcare, has contributed to significant reductions in out-of-pocket expenditure through an increase in social security and primary health expenditure, with over ₹1.25 lakh crore in savings recorded, said the Economic Survey 2024-25, tabled in Parliament on Friday, January 31, 2025, by …

Healthcare faces significant challenges in infrastructure
2 months, 1 week ago

Healthcare faces significant challenges in infrastructure

Live Mint  

Mumbai: The healthcare industry has recommended several reforms to reduce costs of key medicines, enhance accessibility, as well as promote innovation. Lowering GST on health insurance premiums to 5% could improve insurance penetration, while Viability Gap Funding and low-interest capital investments are needed to add 2.5-3 million hospital beds. In 2018, the government launched the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan …

Budget 2025: AI-Driven Diagnostics To R&D Push; Here’s What The Healthcare Sector Expects
2 months, 2 weeks ago

Budget 2025: AI-Driven Diagnostics To R&D Push; Here’s What The Healthcare Sector Expects

ABP News  

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present the Budget for the financial year 2025-26 in parliament on February 1st, 2025 and leaders across the country are sharing their take on what they are expecting from the upcoming budget. Over the past 15 years, India has made significant improvements in its healthcare sector through policy interventions focused on …

India’s Public Health Crisis: The Price of Privatisation
3 months ago

India’s Public Health Crisis: The Price of Privatisation

The Hindu  

Published : Dec 25, 2024 12:00 IST - 9 MINS READ As a nation and as a population, India shares with its South and South-East Asian neighbours the legacy of a heavy public health burden shaped by a common historical past. A recent NITI Aayog report reveals that the average monthly per capita health expenditure remains at about 13 per …

The challenge of universal health coverage
3 months, 1 week ago

The challenge of universal health coverage

The Hindu  

The ongoing national conversation on what India needs to do for universal health coverage often misses the complexity of multiple health systems and the unique challenges they bring. Not the solution Government health expenditure in West Bengal, which was ₹1,346 per capita in 2019-20, is only about 61% of the estimated ₹2,205 required to offer UHC. The story is no …

PM Modi Launches Health Cover Plan for Senior Citizens, Hits Out at Delhi and West Bengal Governments
4 months, 3 weeks ago

PM Modi Launches Health Cover Plan for Senior Citizens, Hits Out at Delhi and West Bengal Governments

Hindustan Times  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a health cover plan for citizens aged 70 and above under the government's flagship Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY). The scheme will provide health coverage to all eligible senior citizens regardless of their income. Modi highlighted that the scheme was a blessing for every person associated with it, be it a …

Global Investors Are Flocking to India's Healthcare Sector: A Healthcare Industry Powerhouse
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Global Investors Are Flocking to India's Healthcare Sector: A Healthcare Industry Powerhouse

Live Mint  

Global investors are flocking to India's healthcare sector due to the country's increasing insurance penetration and the government's Ayushman Bharat Scheme, which aims to provide free access to health insurance coverage for low-income earners. The scheme currently covers about 500 million poor people in the country and is being expanded to cover all citizens above 70.

The burden of health care on India’s poorest
7 months, 2 weeks ago

The burden of health care on India’s poorest

Hindustan Times  

In recent years, the Indian government has made significant strides in reducing the burden of health expenditure on the common citizen. A particular focus of the government has been to reduce the burden of severe economic shocks due to “catastrophic” health care expenditure such as hospitalisation. In order to understand the character of catastrophic health expenditure, Artha Global’s Centre for …

Transforming health care access and empowering communities
7 months, 2 weeks ago

Transforming health care access and empowering communities

Hindustan Times  

Life expectancy and access to health care have increased globally in recent decades, which has significantly improved general welfare. The World Health Organization states that a health care system should improve population health, prevent health care costs, and meet health expectations. With India's fertility rate declining, it becomes even more critical to integrate fertility-related healthcare into the larger health insurance …

A Budget that places health on the margins
8 months ago

A Budget that places health on the margins

The Hindu  

With the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, the Union Budget expectedly shifted focus to levers of economic growth such as infrastructure and employment. It was also hoped that the recognition of population health as a vital investment for accelerating as well as protecting economic growth would see continued investment in strengthening our health systems. In the Interim Budget, …

Budget 2024: Health insurers seek more attractive tax incentives—and a regulator
8 months, 3 weeks ago

Budget 2024: Health insurers seek more attractive tax incentives—and a regulator

Live Mint  

In the interim budget for 2024-25 presented in February, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman increased the government’s allocation towards the health sector by nearly 14%. “To enable better retail health insurance penetration, the government can consider categorising them under a separate HSN code and lowering the tax to 5%," says Parimal Heda, chief investment officer, GoDigit General Insurance. The tax on …

Public-private partnership: Pathway to health for all
10 months ago

Public-private partnership: Pathway to health for all

Hindustan Times  

The goal of universal health coverage is one of the most significant commitments to equitable quality health care for all. Health care A true partnership, where the professionalism, patience and perseverance of private sector can positively impact the health of the Indian population across a new private-public partnership nomenclature--the poor, paediatric and pregnant women alike. · Technology and innovation towards …

Does Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana need a design change?
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Does Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana need a design change?

The Hindu  

Ayushman Bharat, the government’s flagship programme to achieve universal health coverage, was launched in 2018. The scheme has two inter-related components: health and wellness centres and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana that aims to provide a health cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to over 12 crore families that form the …

Union Budget: Healthcare challenges and how the government can navigate them
1 year, 1 month ago

Union Budget: Healthcare challenges and how the government can navigate them

Firstpost  

The healthcare industry has always been the core of any flourishing civilisation. Modern medical challenges Public expenditure on healthcare contributes to only 1.3 per cent of GDP, resulting in compromised healthcare standards. As per some projections, AI utilisation in healthcare resource optimisation could contribute $25 billion to India’s GDP by 2025. Role of government in shaping healthcare The government must …

A milestone in the journey to universal health care
1 year, 3 months ago

A milestone in the journey to universal health care

Hindustan Times  

In a landmark move for India’s health care system, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the 10,000th Jan Aushadhi Kendra under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana at AIIMS in Deoghar last week. While the media spotlight might not have brightly shone on this accomplishment, it’s a significant stride in India’s health care narrative. In his 2023 Independence Day address, PM Modi …

Health Ministry urges Delhi, Odisha, West Bengal to join AB-PMJAY scheme
1 year, 6 months ago

Health Ministry urges Delhi, Odisha, West Bengal to join AB-PMJAY scheme

The Hindu  

The Union Health Ministry on September 25 urged Delhi, Odisha, and West Bengal to join the Centre’s flagship health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, to ensure that quality healthcare is made accessible to all. Speaking at the inaugural session of Arogya Manthan, being held to celebrate five years of the PM-JAY and two years of the …

A US-India partnership to advance global health
1 year, 7 months ago

A US-India partnership to advance global health

Hindustan Times  

This week I am joining India’s health minister Mansukh Mandaviya for the G20 health ministerial in Gandhinagar. We are developing strategies to address common challenges including pandemic response, achieving universal health coverage, improving global access to medical supplies during health emergencies, digital health, and the impact of the climate crisis on health. Global health offers unique opportunities to come together …

Health Matters | Patients and patents — the double-edged sword
1 year, 8 months ago

Health Matters | Patients and patents — the double-edged sword

The Hindu  

The most raucous discussions on health care are often centred around costs — costs of treatment, drugs, and hospitalisation being so exorbitant that paying for healthcare impoverishes even one initially able to pay for treatment. Bindu Shajan Perappadan reported that, as Johnson & Johnson’s 20-year primary patent on bedaquiline expired in a large number of countries, including India, on July …

Centre mandated spending on health has positive impact: study
1 year, 8 months ago

Centre mandated spending on health has positive impact: study

The Hindu  

Measures taken by the National Health Mission have given a positive fillip to the health sector across the country in the past 15 years, a study published in the Public Health For All journal has concluded. The States received funding only if they complied with the Central Government’s schemes, and States were nudged to enhance investment in primary health care. …

Centre urges States, Union Territories to achieve 100% Ayushman Bharat card saturation
1 year, 8 months ago

Centre urges States, Union Territories to achieve 100% Ayushman Bharat card saturation

The Hindu  

The Union government has urged all States and Union Territories to achieve 100% Ayushman Bharat card saturation by utilising the services of grassroots-level healthcare workers. The Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana is billed as the largest government- Stakeholders have also been directed to set up State offices and carry out review and regular monitoring of the programme. The …

Nigeria seeks India’s help to emulate Jan Aushadhi Kendra model
1 year, 11 months ago

Nigeria seeks India’s help to emulate Jan Aushadhi Kendra model

The Hindu  

Nigeria, among the worst in Africa in terms of health indicators, has sought India’s help to set up stores similar to the Jan Aushadhi Kendras in an attempt to make available quality medicines, consumables, and surgical items at affordable prices for all and reduce the out-of-pocket expenditure of consumers and patients. This is also to ensure easy availability of the …

Universal Health Coverage By 2030: Achievable Goal Or Pipe Dream?
1 year, 11 months ago

Universal Health Coverage By 2030: Achievable Goal Or Pipe Dream?

The Quint  

A review of PMJAY in a recent Lancet study, by Dubey et al, states that, “The PMJAY scheme overall is failing to target the most vulnerable population. This mis-targeting can risk inequitable demand and utilization of PMJAY….States with higher poverty headcounts and disease burdens are considered to have a higher need for PMJAY and vice versa. This discrepancy in need …

India may further expand the ambit of world's largest govt-funded healthcare program PM-JAY
2 years, 2 months ago

India may further expand the ambit of world's largest govt-funded healthcare program PM-JAY

Firstpost  

New Delhi: With an aim to extend the provide accessible and affordable healthcare facilities to the more people, the BJP ruled Centre may announce an expansion in the coverage of world’s largest government funded healthcare program ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana’ during the upcoming union budget. According to sources familiar with the matter, “The proposal to extend the benefits to …

Budget 2023: What Insurance Industry Demands to Boost Insurance Penetration in India
2 years, 2 months ago

Budget 2023: What Insurance Industry Demands to Boost Insurance Penetration in India

News 18  

The Union Budget 2023 — the most eagerly awaited financial event of the year — is just around the corner. Since the growth in the insurance sector has the potential to directly aid India’s global aspirations, Budget 2023 could prove to be a catalyst for its reformation. Here are a few expectations the insurance sector has from this year’s Budget: …

Alleviating the scourge of private healthcare
2 years, 3 months ago

Alleviating the scourge of private healthcare

The Hindu  

India ranks poorly on multiple health financing indicators. Public health insurance schemes have often been reproached for imposing unreasonable package rates on empanelled private providers with a weak regard for actual costs of care. For instance, some countries like Canada have conceived regional health boards that organise care equitably within regions, exploit economies of scale, and bring down healthcare costs. …

A heartening health update
2 years, 6 months ago

A heartening health update

Hindustan Times  

The latest report of National Health Accounts — it has data for 2018-19 — shows that India continues to make progress towards reducing the burden of health spending on household budgets. This is a heartening development because the poor are more likely to gain when government spending rather than private health insurance brings about a reduction in OOP spending. As …

Extend health cover to the ‘missing middle’
2 years, 10 months ago

Extend health cover to the ‘missing middle’

Hindustan Times  

The National Health Authority plans to extend health insurance coverage under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna to gig workers who earn between ₹15,000 and ₹25,000 per month, Mint reported on Monday. This scheme, if operationalised, will be a much-needed, welcome step because the Indian economy is moving from permanent employer-employee relationships to on-demand employer-employee relationships, and many …

Defining a new pathway for enhanced healthcare
3 years ago

Defining a new pathway for enhanced healthcare

Hindustan Times  

The challenges faced in the past by the Indian healthcare system pale in comparison with those brought on by the pandemic. Globally it can be seen that government expenditures on health need to be more than 70% to 75% of total health expenditures to deliver truly high-quality healthcare services. A review of the November 2021 State of State Finances report …

It’s up to us how to create better solutions of AYUSH for ourselves and for the world as well: PM
3 years ago

It’s up to us how to create better solutions of AYUSH for ourselves and for the world as well: PM

The Hindu  

Seeking to provide more opportunities to Indian students in the field of medical education, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged the private sector “to get into this field in huge quantities’’ and sought the intervention of State governments to make good policies in giving land for this type of work. Speaking at a webinar on the Union Budget announcements …

Budget 2022: Why healthcare policies need to factor entire value chain from prevention, diagnosis, treatment to insurance coverage
3 years, 2 months ago

Budget 2022: Why healthcare policies need to factor entire value chain from prevention, diagnosis, treatment to insurance coverage

Firstpost  

Union Budget 2022-23: The COVID-19 crisis experience has already highlighted the challenges faced by the healthcare sector Although healthcare has always been an evolving field with a focus on new therapies, drugs, diagnostic techniques, preventive medicine, and constant research, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that shifted attention to our preparedness in facing a healthcare crisis. Budget 2020-21 takeaways The Rs …

More a private sector primer than health-care pathway
3 years, 4 months ago

More a private sector primer than health-care pathway

The Hindu  

The central government’s flagship health insurance scheme, the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, aims to extend hospitalisation cover of up to ₹5 lakh per family per annum to a poor and vulnerable population of nearly 50 crore people. Apart from AB-PMJAY and State-level government health insurance schemes, small segments of the Indian population are covered under social health insurance …

Wanted: A truly generous health cheque for underserved Indians
3 years, 4 months ago

Wanted: A truly generous health cheque for underserved Indians

Live Mint  

At an annual spend hovering around ₹2,000 per capita, India’s public health expenditure remains one of the lowest among major economies in the world. Yet, in fiscal 2020-21, when the pandemic burst on the scene, India’s government health expenditure inched up to merely 1.5% of GDP. The National Health Policy, in addition to recommending an increase in overall public health …

Medical Cover for Every Indian: PMJAY-like Scheme for 40 Crore Uninsured on the Cards
3 years, 5 months ago

Medical Cover for Every Indian: PMJAY-like Scheme for 40 Crore Uninsured on the Cards

News 18  

The government is moving towards covering the ‘missing middle’ of over 40 crore population with medical insurance, and has shortlisted 21 insurers who may offer a highly subsidised cover as part of a pilot project on voluntary basis. Apart from the 50 crore poorest people covered by the PMJAY scheme, 3 crore people are covered by various state schemes, 15-17 …

‘More Money for Health’: Financing Universal Health Coverage in India
3 years, 6 months ago

‘More Money for Health’: Financing Universal Health Coverage in India

Hindustan Times  

Any discussion of the pathways that India needs to take towards Universal Healthcare would be incomplete without a clear understanding of how it is to be financed. However, perhaps the most important challenge that we face in our UHC journey is that while the proportions being allocated to healthcare by each state government from its annual budget vary greatly and …

Ayushman Bharat and the path to universal health coverage in India
3 years, 7 months ago

Ayushman Bharat and the path to universal health coverage in India

Hindustan Times  

Successive Indian national governments have stated a commitment to achieving universal health coverage. PREMIUM The government of India approved the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana in March 2018. The government of India approved the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana in March 2018 and has hailed the programme as a historic step towards achieving UHC in India. …

The health nudge is merely a mirage
4 years, 1 month ago

The health nudge is merely a mirage

Live Mint  

HYDERABAD : The Union Budget, as expected, focused on healthcare, recognizing the havoc that the pandemic has caused in the country. With current enrolment under RSBY and other state-run insurance schemes well below the target of 500 million, increased allocation of funds was a necessary step in order to expand health insurance coverage. In a year when everything should have …

Healthcare likely to get top priority in Budget: Survey
4 years, 1 month ago

Healthcare likely to get top priority in Budget: Survey

India TV News  

Healthcare likely to get top priority in Budget: Survey India's healthcare sector is likely to get the maximum attention of the government in the upcoming Budget to be unveiled on Monday, as it comes in the face of the country braving a once-in-a-century global pandemic, says a survey. India's healthcare sector is likely to get the maximum attention of the …

Economic Survey | To enable India to respond to pandemics, health infra must be agile
4 years, 1 month ago

Economic Survey | To enable India to respond to pandemics, health infra must be agile

The Hindu  

The ongoing COVID pandemic has showcased how a healthcare crisis can get transformed into an economic and social crisis and how it is inter-linked with other key sectors of the economy, noted the Economic Survey 2020-21, tabled in Parliament on Friday. “To enable India to respond to pandemics, the health infrastructure must be agile,” it says. Stating that COVID-19 has …

The antidote for India’s healthcare woes
4 years, 3 months ago

The antidote for India’s healthcare woes

Live Mint  

“This is indeed India!” remarked Mark Twain, as he tried to grasp the complex and nuanced Indian society. Considering that India’s healthcare spending, at 3.5% of gross domestic product, is significantly lower than peers, one would assume that higher government spending can alleviate all the pain points in the healthcare ecosystem. Similarly, India can work towards creating a Health Open …

Stopping the slide of health care in India
4 years, 3 months ago

Stopping the slide of health care in India

The Hindu  

India’s health care is a dark echo chamber. What makes insurance and private health care an egregious combination is that the insurance backup incentivises hospitals to expand the bill but the patients do not get attended to in their best interests. In any case, insurance of secondary and tertiary care pushes out long-term investment by the state and people and …

Reversing health sector neglect with a reform agenda
4 years, 7 months ago

Reversing health sector neglect with a reform agenda

The Hindu  

Two countries which lead in the COVID-19 cases tally in the world today, namely the United States and India, are also the ones where the need for health-care reform post COVID-19 has been most keenly felt. However, the foundational aspects of U.S. health care, such as a fragmented private insurance landscape and a love for expensive specialised care, could hardly …

World Population Day 2020: India need to focus on quality health care for all in the post-COVID-19 era
4 years, 8 months ago

World Population Day 2020: India need to focus on quality health care for all in the post-COVID-19 era

Firstpost  

With the private health sector failing to provide equitable healthcare, we should consider regulations to ensure it acts in the people’s interests and not in the quest for profits. As we highlight the population issues on World Population Day, it is also important to put India’s healthcare system under the scanner and address the barriers to delivering quality healthcare services …

Needed, a transfusion for public health care
4 years, 9 months ago

Needed, a transfusion for public health care

The Hindu  

A news channel in India alleged recently that several private hospitals in the country were “exposed” by a “sting operation” to be levying fees in excess when COVID-19 patients went to them for care. A mirror to public care The reason for this abundance of private health care is obviously the lack of adequate public health care. The Indian government …

India is poised for deep structural health reforms
4 years, 11 months ago

India is poised for deep structural health reforms

Hindustan Times  

Despite a history of a weak health system, India was near an inflection point on health care reforms even before the outbreak of the coronavirus disease. India’s weak health care is a legacy of limited attention to it after Independence, and the multiple priorities of a young nation. India’s per capita income and health expenditure are similar to those of …

Fight for the finite: On budgetary allocation for health
5 years ago

Fight for the finite: On budgetary allocation for health

The Hindu  

It is an incontrovertible truth that material resources are finite. With the number of SARS-CoV-2 positive cases on the rise, and the number of deaths going up as well, the question is whether national and state health systems will be able to cope with ever-rising demands — for testing kits, for hospital beds, ventilators, why, even masks and hand sanitisers. …

Govt courts private hospitals to boost health insurance programme, offers incentives; NHA likely to seek Rs 8,000 cr for next year
5 years, 4 months ago

Govt courts private hospitals to boost health insurance programme, offers incentives; NHA likely to seek Rs 8,000 cr for next year

Firstpost  

Launched last year, the scheme is critical to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans to reform the country’s health system. New Delhi: India will offer incentives to private hospitals to take part in the government’s health insurance programme, potentially the biggest of its kind in the world, a senior government official told Reuters. Launched last year, the scheme is critical to …

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