Publication: Government-Sponsored Health Insurance in India : Are You Covered?
Date
2012-08-26
ISSN
Published
2012-08-26
Author(s)
Abstract
Since independence, India has struggled
to provide its people with universal health coverage.
Whether defined in terms of financial protection or access
to and effective use of health care, the majority of Indians
remain irregularly and incompletely covered. Finally, and
most recently, a new generation of Government-Sponsored
Health Insurance Schemes (GSHISs) has emerged to provide the
poor with financial coverage. Briefly, the main objective of
these new GSHISs was to offer financial protection against
catastrophic health shocks, defined in terms of an inpatient
stay. Between 2007 and 2010, six major schemes have emerged,
including one sponsored by the Government of India (GOI) and
five state-sponsored schemes. This new wave of schemes
provides fully subsidized coverage for a limited package of
secondary or tertiary inpatient care, targeting below
poverty populations. Similar to the private voluntary
insurance products in the country, ambulatory services
including drugs are not covered except as part of an episode
of illness requiring an inpatient stay. The schemes have
organized hospital networks consisting of public and private
facilities, and most care funded by these schemes is
provided in private hospitals. Ostensibly, the objective of
any health insurance scheme is to increase access,
utilization, and financial protection, and ultimately
improve health status. Due to lack of evaluations and
analyses of household data, the authors of this book do not
examine the impact of health insurance in terms of these
objectives. This book is not meant to highlight problems of
the GSHISs, but rather to raise potential challenges and
emerging issues that should be addressed to ensure the
long-term viability of these schemes and secure their place
within the health finance and delivery system.
Citation
“La Forgia, Gerard; Nagpal, Somil. 2012. Government-Sponsored Health Insurance in India : Are You Covered?. Directions in development : human development;. © http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/896f4909-aed1-5124-a621-ab68b3db6c24 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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