More a private sector primer than health-care pathway
3 years, 1 month 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 schemes and private health insurance. The report proposes voluntary, contributory health insurance dispensed mainly by private commercial health insurers as the prime instrument for extending health insurance to the ‘missing middle’. Rather than plot a pathway for UHC in India, the report is more about expanding the footprints and penetration of the private health insurance sector.

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History of this topic

A decade of transformation: India's journey towards healthcare equity and excellence
1 week, 4 days 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
1 week, 5 days 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 …

India’s Public Health Crisis: The Price of Privatisation
2 weeks, 3 days 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 …

PM-JAY for senior citizens: How to register for free health insurance
2 weeks, 5 days ago

PM-JAY for senior citizens: How to register for free health insurance

India Today  

The Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana offers free health insurance of up to Rs 5 lakh every year to senior citizens. ENROLLING IN THE SCHEME: A SIMPLE PROCESS Senior citizens or their family members can begin the enrolment process by downloading the Ayushman Bharat app from the Google Play Store or the official website. A HEALTHIER FUTURE FOR …

Soaring inflation pushes up health insurance premiums; makes standardised care costlier
2 weeks, 6 days 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 weeks, 3 days 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
2 months, 2 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.

Evolution of the health care policy framework in India
4 months, 1 week 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
4 months, 4 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
5 months 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 …

Govt Plans Major Expansion Of Ayushman Bharat Health Insurance Scheme: Report
6 months ago

Govt Plans Major Expansion Of Ayushman Bharat Health Insurance Scheme: Report

ABP News  

The central government is considering a major expansion of its Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in a bid to enhance healthcare accessibility. Launched to provide secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per family annually, the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana was allocated Rs 7,200 crore in the interim Budget of 2024. President Droupadi …

Budget 2024: Health insurers seek more attractive tax incentives—and a regulator
6 months 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
7 months, 3 weeks 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
7 months, 3 weeks 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
7 months, 3 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 …

Have India’s health centres really ‘collapsed’?
10 months ago

Have India’s health centres really ‘collapsed’?

The Hindu  

Jean Drèze, Reetika Khera, Rishabh Malhotra, ‘The Changing State of Health Centres in North India’, Economic & Political Weekly There is a well-documented infamy around public health centres. Localised healthcare “is a much better way of dealing with most health problems than to let patients loose on larger public hospitals or the private sector”. “Health centres today have better facilities, …

30% People Don't Buy Health Insurance Due To High Premium: Study
1 year 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, 1 month 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 …

Out-of-pocket health expenditure in India: Inter-state variations
1 year, 4 months ago

Out-of-pocket health expenditure in India: Inter-state variations

Hindustan Times  

Adequate public investment in health, by ensuring better affordability and availability of health care, is crucial for sustaining a resilient public health system. Chart 2 In five states, high public health spending is related to low OOPE, while in four states, low public health spending is related to high OOPE. In eight states, low public health spending is related to …

Voluntary health insurance and its expansion
1 year, 5 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 …

Centre urges States, Union Territories to achieve 100% Ayushman Bharat card saturation
1 year, 5 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 …

Universal cover: The Hindu editorial on the Insurance Regulatory and Revelopment Authority of India’s all-in-one insurance policy
1 year, 7 months ago

Universal cover: The Hindu editorial on the Insurance Regulatory and Revelopment Authority of India’s all-in-one insurance policy

The Hindu  

May 31, 2023 12:20 am | Updated 12:20 am IST Last week, the chief of India’s insurance sector regulator unveiled a fresh blueprint to cover a larger portion of the population against risks of adverse shocks, with an eye on insuring everyone by 2047. The lynchpin of this “UPI-like moment”, being pursued by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of …

India may further expand the ambit of world's largest govt-funded healthcare program PM-JAY
1 year, 11 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
1 year, 11 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 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. …

The Missing Link in India’s Journey Towards Universal Health Coverage
2 years ago

The Missing Link in India’s Journey Towards Universal Health Coverage

News 18  

Out-of-pocket-expenditure remains a challenging part of India’s health system story. Further, according to NITI Aayog’s report ‘Health Insurance for India’s ‘Missing Middle’, the ‘missing middle’ constitutes at least 30% of the population which may not get covered under any government subsidised health insurance schemes like PM-JAY, social health insurance schemes like the Employee State Insurance Scheme or private voluntary health …

What is the ideal public health insurance model?
2 years, 2 months ago

What is the ideal public health insurance model?

The Hindu  

Public health insurance is the arrangement by which the government undertakes to provide a guarantee of relief against illness, disability, or death in return for payment of a specified premium. UK and India models In the National Health Services model of the UK and India, the health systems are managed by earmarking a proportion of the tax collected by the …

Need Tailored Medical Insurance Product for Middle Class: NITI Aayog Member Paul
2 years, 2 months ago

Need Tailored Medical Insurance Product for Middle Class: NITI Aayog Member Paul

News 18  

NITI Aayog member Dr V K Paul on Tuesday underscored the need for a tailored medical insurance product for the middle class in the country, saying only 6.8 per cent of individuals have private insurance. NITI Aayog has been talking about this “missing middle” of 30-40 crore who need insurance, Paul said at ‘FICCI HEAL 2022’ organised by the Federation …

UHC in India: Insights from Indonesia and China
2 years, 3 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 …

Extend health cover to the ‘missing middle’
2 years, 8 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
2 years, 9 months 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 …

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

Medical Cover for Every Indian: PMJAY-like Scheme for 40 Crore Uninsured on the Cards
3 years, 2 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 health for the money’: Obtaining more value from financing
3 years, 3 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, 4 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, 4 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, 5 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
3 years, 11 months 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 …

Economic Survey | ‘High out-of-pocket expenses for health can lead to poverty’
3 years, 11 months ago

Economic Survey | ‘High out-of-pocket expenses for health can lead to poverty’

The Hindu  

India has one-of-the highest level of Out-Of-Pocket Expenditures contributing directly to the high incidence of catastrophic expenditures and poverty, notes the Economic Survey. The Survey also underlines that OOPE for health increases the risk of vulnerable groups slipping into poverty because of catastrophic health expenditures. The Survey added that for enabling India to respond to pandemics, the health infrastructure must …

Stopping the slide of health care in India
4 years 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 …

Reimagining India’s Health System: The Lancet Citizens’ Commission
4 years 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 …

Reversing health sector neglect with a reform agenda
4 years, 4 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 …

Needed, a transfusion for public health care
4 years, 7 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, 7 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 …

Govt courts private hospitals to boost health insurance programme, offers incentives; NHA likely to seek Rs 8,000 cr for next year
5 years, 1 month 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, 1 month 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 …

As govt begins fresh innings, all eyes on healthcare promise
5 years, 7 months ago

As govt begins fresh innings, all eyes on healthcare promise

Live Mint  

The government will have to focus on the major health initiatives that played a pivotal role in wooing voters and helped the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance come back to power at the centre. The key health initiatives of the previous government included Ayushman Bharat, price cuts for essential drugs and implants, and the introduction of health-related bills …

World Health Day 2019: Challenges, opportunities in India's $81b healthcare industry
5 years, 9 months ago

World Health Day 2019: Challenges, opportunities in India's $81b healthcare industry

Firstpost  

India’s healthcare industry is projected to grow to 17% by 2020. With the lowest government spend and public spend, as a proportion of gross domestic product, and the lowest per capita health spend — China spends 5.6 times more, the US 125 times more — Indians met more than 62 percent of their health expenses from their personal savings, called …

India’s health care sector needs fresh ideas
6 years ago

India’s health care sector needs fresh ideas

Hindustan Times  

There are some interesting developments in progress within India. Adequate total expenditure on health care by citizens but over 50 million people returning to poverty each year because of health shocks, having to once again claw their way back up. In a field such as curative health care, given the severe challenges that are inherently associated with it and its …

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