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 be altered due to their entrenched nature. A similar set of entrenched and non-negotiable fundamentals, including weak public and pervasive private health care, will also impact health-care reform in India. India’s attempts The government has looked poised to employ Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana health insurance as the tool for achieving UHC, and such calls have only grown stronger in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking the health insurance route to UHC driven by private players, rather than strengthening the public provisioning of health care, is reflective of the non-negotiability of private health care in India.

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History of this topic

A status check of universal health coverage in India
1 week, 4 days 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 …

Flexible payment plans, bundled care packages, digital tools can cut medical care costs, says Aster DM’s chief Azad Moopen
2 weeks ago

Flexible payment plans, bundled care packages, digital tools can cut medical care costs, says Aster DM’s chief Azad Moopen

The Hindu  

With digital interventions such as telemedicine platforms, AI-driven diagnostics and mobile health initiatives already ensuring access for patients to specialists and timely interventions, going forward, innovative financing solutions, including flexible payment plans, bundled care packages and digital tools that provide real-time cost estimates and insurance eligibility, would help patients make informed choices and access affordable healthcare, says Dr. Azad Moopen, …

Guest Column| Hospital bill should not be a financial death sentence
1 month, 4 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 …

A decade of transformation: India's journey towards healthcare equity and excellence
2 months, 4 weeks ago

A decade of transformation: India's journey towards healthcare equity and excellence

India Today  

The journey of healthcare transformation is not merely about policy shifts or technological integration; it is about reimagining the role of healthcare as a cornerstone of national development. For global leaders, policymakers, and healthcare executives, India’s transformative journey offers a compelling roadmap for addressing systemic challenges while leveraging innovation for scalable, equitable impact. Lessons for global leaders India’s healthcare transformation …

The US’ angst over health insurance: Lessons for India
2 months, 4 weeks ago

The US’ angst over health insurance: Lessons for India

Live Mint  

The recent murder of the head of a prominent health insurer in the US, allegedly fuelled by resentment toward the industry's practices, has cast a harsh spotlight on claims policies that have left many policyholders dissatisfied. In 2021-22, health insurance surpassed motor insurance to become the largest segment by premiums among Indian non-life insurers. For instance, Star Health, the second-largest …

Healthcare cost inflation soaring, raising health cover premiums
3 months ago

Healthcare cost inflation soaring, raising health cover premiums

The Hindu  

Since COVID-19 pandemic, India has been witnessing a surge in healthcare cost inflation making assured and standardised healthcare unviable for several sections of the society and pushing up health insurance premiums. Speaking to The Hindu, Sumit Bohra, president of the Insurance Brokers Association of India notes that currently in India the rising healthcare cost and growing health insurance premiums are …

Soaring inflation pushes up health insurance premiums; makes standardised care costlier
3 months, 1 week ago

Soaring inflation pushes up health insurance premiums; makes standardised care costlier

The Hindu  

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, India is witnessing a surge in healthcare cost inflation, making assured and standardised healthcare unviable for several sections of the society and pushing up health insurance premiums. Speaking to The Hindu, Sumit Bohra, president of the Insurance Brokers Association of India notes that currently in India, rising healthcare costs and growing health insurance premiums are feeding …

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 …

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

Evolution of the health care policy framework in India
6 months, 3 weeks ago

Evolution of the health care policy framework in India

Hindustan Times  

This paper traces the history of the evolution of India’s health care policy framework, focusing on its major objectives, challenges faced, and outcomes emerged. The key themes prevalent across most of these policies and specific initiatives included: increasing public health spending and reducing out-of-pocket or catastrophic health spending; addressing rural-urban inequalities in healthcare; developing primary health care; and achieving universal …

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 …

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 …

The imperative for fair and sustainable treatment costs
10 months ago

The imperative for fair and sustainable treatment costs

Hindustan Times  

The ministry of health's recent initiative to engage private hospitals in consultations on standardising treatment costs reflects a groundbreaking moment in India's health care ecosystem. Balancing accessibility and affordability while maintaining quality standards remains a critical challenge that health care providers and policymakers must address to ensure equitable health care access for all. One of the key challenges in health …

Public-private partnership: Pathway to health for all
10 months, 1 week 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 …

Healthcare privatisation linked with worse outcomes, higher profits: Lancet Study
10 months, 1 week ago

Healthcare privatisation linked with worse outcomes, higher profits: Lancet Study

Deccan Chronicle  

New Delhi: Privatisation of healthcare was found to almost never have a positive effect on the quality of care, and was associated with higher profits, a research that reviewed previous studies of high-income countries such as the US, Germany, Canada, and South Korea has claimed.Researchers said the findings, published in The Lancet Public Health journal, challenged the theory that privatisation …

A new South Africa health law aims at deep inequality, but critics say they’ll challenge it
10 months, 2 weeks ago

A new South Africa health law aims at deep inequality, but critics say they’ll challenge it

Associated Press  

JOHANNESBURG — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday signed into law a bill that aims to overhaul the healthcare system to address deep inequality, but it faces legal challenges from critics. The law introduces what is known as National Health Insurance, which will provide funds for all South Africans to access private healthcare. “In its essence, the National Health …

Court’s nudge on hospital charges, a reform opportunity
10 months, 4 weeks ago

Court’s nudge on hospital charges, a reform opportunity

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court of India, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation in February this year, directed the central government to find ways to regulate the rates of hospital procedures in the private sector. The Court ruled the Central Government Health Scheme rates as an interim measure if the government failed to find ways to regulate rates. Limited data The Pradhan …

Electoral season and restructuring the health system
1 year, 1 month ago

Electoral season and restructuring the health system

The Hindu  

With the electoral season on, it is going to be raining manifestos. Both mentioned revamping the primary health system, ensuring universal health care, expanding human resources, increasing use of technology and so on. The NDA ensured continuity of policy by scrapping the Medical Council of India and establishing the National Medical Commission, further strengthened the rural health infrastructure with capital …

Union Budget: Healthcare challenges and how the government can navigate them
1 year, 2 months 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 …

30% People Don't Buy Health Insurance Due To High Premium: Study
1 year, 2 months ago

30% People Don't Buy Health Insurance Due To High Premium: Study

News 18  

A new study by healthcare provider Pristyn Care found that 3 out of 10 people across cities in India don’t buy health insurance due to high premiums. The study highlighted that Covid-19 pandemic with its unpredictability and deadly consequences underscored crucial lessons in healthcare and how the system needed to be more resilient and adaptable in the coming times. The …

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 …

Voluntary health insurance and its expansion
1 year, 8 months ago

Voluntary health insurance and its expansion

Hindustan Times  

With the launch of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, insurance is no doubt set to play a dominant role in India as seen in other countries, in its path towards universal health coverage. These schemes form multiple risk pools extending from social health insurance like the Central Government Health Scheme and Employee State Insurance Scheme for formal employees to private …

All-in-one policy plan to spread insurance in India
1 year, 10 months ago

All-in-one policy plan to spread insurance in India

The Hindu  

If India’s insurance regulator’s plans fructify, households across the country could soon be able to get an affordable single policy that covers health, life, property and accident, get their claims settled within hours, and even secure value-added services such as gym or yoga memberships at the time of buying a policy. In an ambitious bid to expand the poor insurance …

On Raj health bill, govt and doctors need to negotiate
1 year, 11 months ago

On Raj health bill, govt and doctors need to negotiate

Hindustan Times  

The passing of the Right to Health Bill in Rajasthan has sparked controversy, with health care professionals protesting its implementation. Despite its drawbacks and implementation challenges, the legislative approach is crucial in holding the government accountable for health care failures and raising public awareness of health rights, which are currently lacking. Doctors have primarily objected to a provision in the …

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. …

UHC in India: Insights from Indonesia and China
2 years, 6 months ago

UHC in India: Insights from Indonesia and China

Hindustan Times  

Current attention on global health should not take attention away from Universal Health Coverage, a global development agenda endorsed by countries, including India. There are several key issues that India must consider while taking the path of insurance as a means to UHC – providing coverage to the unorganised sector; financial sustainability of insurance; comprehensive coverage which is well-integrated with …

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 …

The political pathway to health system improvements in India
3 years, 3 months ago

The political pathway to health system improvements in India

Hindustan Times  

The Indian health care sector has made significant progress in the last few decades. In this paper, the authors analyse the political determinants of improved health outcomes, making a case for political attention to healthcare, through increased investments, health care reforms and improved capacity to deliver curative and public health. The shortcomings of low public investment in health, a fragmented …

Loss of income, rise in health expenses: How the Covid pandemic has made Indians poorer
3 years, 3 months ago

Loss of income, rise in health expenses: How the Covid pandemic has made Indians poorer

India Today  

Sample these: 65.6 per cent households in lower-income countries reported financial reasons for not accessing healthcare during the pandemic; global poverty rates have increased for the first time in decades; 9.7 crore additional people have been pushed to extreme poverty in 2020 due to Covid. “The global poverty rate has increased for the first time after the 1997-98 Asian financial …

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 …

‘More health for the money’: Obtaining more value from financing
3 years, 6 months ago

‘More health for the money’: Obtaining more value from financing

Hindustan Times  

Currently, we in India spend a total of about 4% of our Gross Domestic Product on health care, with almost 2.5% being directly paid for by us at the time that we use any health care services, and only 1.25% being spent by the government. Having failed to obtain substantial improvements within their current systems using traditional methods, a number …

‘More Money for Health’: Financing Universal Health Coverage in India
3 years, 7 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 …

Healthcare for all must be built on the voices of all
3 years, 7 months ago

Healthcare for all must be built on the voices of all

Hindustan Times  

The state of health care in India is far from optimal, a statement with which few of its 1.3 billion citizens would disagree. These underlying tensions are what motivated the formation of the Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System. For India to achieve universal health coverage in the next decade, it is imperative to understand and negotiate the …

Did the poor gain from India’s health policy interventions?
3 years, 8 months ago

Did the poor gain from India’s health policy interventions?

Hindustan Times  

This article examines whether health policy interventions and accelerated health investments in India during 2004-2018 could close the gap in inequity in health care utilisation and access to public subsidy by different population groups. Employing Benefit-Incidence Analysis framework, this paper advances earlier evidence by highlighting estimates of health care utilisation, concentration and government subsidy by broader provider categories and across …

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 …

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 …

Why your health plan premium is suddenly spiking
4 years, 3 months ago

Why your health plan premium is suddenly spiking

Live Mint  

CHENNAI : At a time when having a health insurance plan should have been a reason for comfort, Ram Manohar Reddy, an investment professional based out of Hyderabad, was in for a shock instead. Although the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India doesn’t publish data on lapsation in health insurance, steep premium hikes on renewal do put policyholders at …

Reimagining India’s Health System: The Lancet Citizens’ Commission
4 years, 3 months ago

Reimagining India’s Health System: The Lancet Citizens’ Commission

The Quint  

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the gaps in the Indian healthcare system and necessitated the need to reevaluate the work that needs to be done to improve access to affordable, accessible and inclusive care for all. Vikram Patel, Professor, Harvard Medical School and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and co-founder of the Indian NGO Sangath, added, “The …

COVID-19 and a country club India must leave
4 years, 7 months ago

COVID-19 and a country club India must leave

The Hindu  

As a billion Indians watch with horror as the pandemic sweeps the land, many look with envy to countries to the east of us where the virus originated, and to the west of us in Europe which were devastated just a few months ago but appear to have beaten the bug and are starting to repair their societies. Comment | …

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 …

Paging the private sector in the COVID fight
4 years, 9 months ago

Paging the private sector in the COVID fight

The Hindu  

The COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to disappear in the immediate future. There are no clear policy guidelines to use private sector resources that could complement public sector efforts, and how the payments for their services made. Here, we propose certain policy options to leverage private sector resources for testing, hospitalisation, procurement of biomedical equipment and supplies, and a central intelligence …

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 …

2 States junk NITI Aayog’s PPP model for health care
5 years, 2 months ago

2 States junk NITI Aayog’s PPP model for health care

The Hindu  

Calling out the Centre’s purported attempts to privatise public health care, the Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have junked a plan to link private medical colleges with government-run district hospitals through a public-private partnership model across the country. “The intent of the State government is to provide complete health care services and continue doing that.” If district hospitals …

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 …

NITI Aayog proposes mandatory health insurance for all
5 years, 4 months ago

NITI Aayog proposes mandatory health insurance for all

Live Mint  

NITI Aayog has proposed introduction of a mandatory standard basic benefit as the basis for all health insurance coverage in India. Stating that both the benefits package set by Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana on the demand side as well as the less explicit benefits package set by National Health Mission on the supply-side though preliminary versions of …

Kerala's 'ambulance baby' spectacle shows private players, aided by govt, are taking over public healthcare system
5 years, 11 months ago

Kerala's 'ambulance baby' spectacle shows private players, aided by govt, are taking over public healthcare system

Firstpost  

Nothing wrong in seeking the help of a super-speciality private hospital with world-class amenities and experienced doctors and surgeons, but it did puncture the healthcare claims of the Kerala government. This points to a disturbing trend in Kerala’s healthcare: its public health infrastructure, which once contributed to the state’s unique global brand of Kerala Model of Development, is now giving …

Is it time to ditch the private health insurance rebate? It's a question Labor can't ignore
6 years, 1 month ago

Is it time to ditch the private health insurance rebate? It's a question Labor can't ignore

ABC  

This election campaign, Labor's health focus is expected to be on Medicare which it regards as one of its defining achievements. If Labor sees private health insurance as a system that provides unnecessary extravagances that Medicare won't cover, it can't justify this type of subsidy. Labor approaches private health insurance a bit like one might approach a dead cat on …

Standard health cover will help, but Irdai needs to plug the gaps
6 years, 1 month ago

Standard health cover will help, but Irdai needs to plug the gaps

Live Mint  

The thought is not new. Irdai’s new draft, released on 19 February, addresses this confusion by proposing a basic health insurance plan, named Standard Mediclaim Policy, which will be comparable across insurers. The importance of health insurance can’t be stressed enough, but with so much choice and with varying policy exclusions, it’s often difficult for customers to bring home a …

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