Ayushman Bharat for a New India [Whitepaper]
There is undoubtedly a clear argument for Universal healthcare. The question still looming large is “How do we get there”
Angus Deaton, a well renowned economist, explains that while there is a correlation between higher income and better life expectancy, this is not the only factor. There are means to ensure great health at less cost and equally spending large sum with no purpose, America being one case in point. While earlier any spending on healthcare was dubbed as social overhead, it is no longer so – there is enough evidence to prove that spending on healthcare speeds growth of the nation.
Today, the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) has been credited as the world’s largest health insurance plan. The plan aims to provide a health insurance cover of up to Rs 5 Lakh annually to 10 crore families, which would in turn cover 40 percent of country’s population. RSBY, the earlier predecessor of Ayushman Bharat was able to reach 3.6 Crore families over a 10-year timeframe against a targeted coverage of 6 Cr families, let’s say 60% success rate in 10 years. Undoubtedly, the scheme is very well intentioned and fundamentally ambitious which is the need of the hour. The scheme, however, currently seems to address only one of the three pillars – Affordability for healthcare services; two other pillars access and quality remain unanswered!