Out-of-pocket health spending still high, despite hike in government expenditure

Source: The post is based on the article “Out-of-pocket health spending still high, despite hike in government expenditure” published in The Hindu on 1st February 2023.

What is the News?

According to the Economic Survey 2022-23, almost half of all health spending in India is still paid by patients themselves directly at the point of treatment.

What are the key highlights from the Economic Survey on Health spending in India?

Out-of-pocket expenditure: The share of government health expenditure in total health expenditure was just 28.6% in the financial year 2013-14. This has increased to 40.6% by 2018-19.

– There was also a significant decline in out-of-pocket expenditure as a percentage of total health expenditure from 64.2% in 2013-14 to 48.2% in 2018-19.

– But still almost half of all health spending in India is still paid by patients themselves directly at the point of treatment. In states such as Uttar Pradesh, the out-of-pocket estimates were as high as 71.3%. 

Note: Out-of-pocket expenditure is the money paid directly by households, at the point of receiving health care. This occurs when services are neither provided free of cost through a government health facility nor is the individual covered under any public or private insurance or social protection scheme. 

Government Health expenditure: ​​Central and State governments budgeted expenditure on the health sector has reached 2.1% of GDP in the budget estimates for 2022-23 and 2.2% in the revised estimates for 2021-22, an increase from 1.6% in 2020-21. 

Note: It has been recommended several times that the government’s health expenditure be raised from the existing 1.2% to 2.5% of GDP by 2025. 

Ayushman Bharat Jan Arogya Yojana: Under this scheme, approximately 21.9 crore beneficiaries have been verified including 3 crore beneficiaries verified using State IT systems. This is less than 50% of the originally targeted approximately 50 crore beneficiaries under the scheme.

Digital Health Ids: As of January 2023, over 31.11 crore digital health IDs have been created and the health records of over 7.52 crore people have been linked with the IDs.

Overweight children and adults: According to the National Family Health Survey, the rate of overweight children under 5 years old has gone up from 2.1% in 2015-16 to 3.4% in 2019-21.

– Similarly, the number of women who are overweight or obese has increased from 20.6% to 24%, while the number of men who are overweight has gone up from 18.9% to 22.9%.