The debate over 'cashless payments' misses the real point: What we really need is health insurance for all, not just the few people in cities who can afford high premiums and meet absurd 'cherry picking" conditions. And such a system is not only feasible, it exists in many countries.
Two years ago when Irfan Alam, a young IIM graduate, started the Sammaan Foundation in Bihar that helped people get bank loans for buying rickshaws and thereby, earn a living, it was hailed as a revolution. From the initial 100 people, today there are a few lakh beneficiaries of Alam
To sustain the positive economic trajectory that India has had during the past decade, and to honour the fundamental right of all citizens to adequate health care, the health of all Indian people has to be given the highest priority in public policy.
The debate over 'cashless payments' misses the real point: what we really need is health insurance for all, not just the few people in cities who can afford high premiums and meet absurd 'cherry picking' conditions. And such a system is not only feasible, it exists in many countries.
The Government of Andhra Pradesh has invested in the Rajiv Aarogyasri Community Health Insurance Scheme as a means to reduce burdensome health expenses incurred by the state
India rightly brands itself incredible. The country's remarkable political, economic, and cultural transformation over the past half century has made it a geopolitical force almost equal to that of China. The west has welcomed the growth of India: witness US President Barack Obama's recent support for Indian membership of the UN Security Council.
India's growing economic strength is based on an economic model that has enhanced the very disparities that the call is concerned about. Promotion of medical tourism at the cost of universal primary health care has not been accidental, but the result of a policy that places the market above people's basic needs.
In India, despite improvements in access to health care, inequalities are related to socioeconomic status, geography, and gender, and are compounded by high out-of-pocket expenditures, with more than three-quarters of the increasing financial burden of health care being met by households.
Previous studies on per capita personal health care spending have demonstrated wide variation in health care spending across the United States (Martin et al., 2007). With Affordable Care Act coverage expansions through Medicaid and state-level Health Insurance Exchanges on the horizon, it is more important than ever for policy makers to have detailed information on baseline state-level personal health care spending trends.
