Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to provide health insurance for about half the country would require an estimated Rs 11,000 crore ($1.7 billion) in central and state funding each year, sources familiar with the matter said.
The National Health Protection Scheme, which the government dubs Modicare, was announced in Thursday’s budget for 2018-19 and will provide 100 million families, or about 500 million poor people, with health cover of Rs 5 lakh per year for free treatment of serious illnesses.
Several states now offer health insurance but these schemes are generally small and poorly implemented. Modi faces a national election next year and the new health programme is seen as a signature initiative to woo voters in the countryside, many of whom struggle with high healthcare costs.
The government estimates the cost of insuring each family under the new scheme at about Rs 1,100 ($17.15), said a government official who had direct knowledge of the matter and did not want to be identified.
Officials at NITI Aayog on Friday said the government’s estimated premium for insuring each family would be Rs 1,000-1,200, confirming the funding would be shared between Union and state governments.
“This is a turning point for the health sector,” Vinod K Paul, a member of NITI Aayog, told reporters.
Officials have said “the world’s largest government-funded healthcare programme” would have a central allocation of Rs 2,000 crore in 2018-19, but added that more funds would be made available as the programme is rolled out over the year.
Some critics have raised doubts whether Rs 2,000 crore in central funding is enough to support the programme for 2018-19.
However, the government official said of the Rs 11,000 crore in premiums required to fund the programme, the central government would contribute about Rs 7,000 crore with the 29 states providing the rest.
The Rs 5,000 crore in central funding on top of the budget allocation of Rs 2,000 crore would be made available as the scheme details are worked out over the coming months, the official said.
“Government health insurance companies have readily agreed to fund the programme (at this cost),” the official said.
A second source familiar with the planning said the government could also partly use the funds raised from a newly imposed 1% health cess on taxable incomes, and the health scheme would also benefit from the planned merger of three state-run insurance firms announced in Thursday’s budget.
“It’s a big pool (of people). When you have a mammoth insurance company, the task becomes easier,” said the source, adding that the government’s premium payments for the scheme were expected to be low and manageable.
Modi’s government on Thursday also raised the federal health budget by 11.5% to Rs 53,120 crore ($8.3 billion) for 2018-19.
The measures are Modi’s latest attempt to reform a public health system that faces a shortage of hospitals and doctors. The government has also in recent years capped prices of critical drugs and medical devices and increased health funding.
Still, India spends only about 1% of its GDP on public health, among the world’s lowest, and the health ministry estimates such funding leads to “catastrophic” expenses that push 7% of the population into poverty each year.
A top official at a state-run insurance company said the government would take four to six to finalise the contours of the health plan since it would take time to get hospitals on board.
Nevertheless, a government-sponsored health programme will come as a major boost for the private hospital sector in India. Overburdened public hospitals mean nearly 70% of healthcare delivery is in the hands of private players. The scheme “will be a game changer”, said Prathap Reddy, chairman of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. (With HT)
