To inform plans to achieve universal health coverage (UHC), we estimated utilisation and unit cost of outpatient visits and inpatient admissions, did a decomposition analysis of utilisation, and estimated additional services and funds needed to meet a UHC standard for utilisation.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent an exponential advance from the Millennium Development Goals, with a substantially broader agenda affecting all nations and requiring coordinated global actions.

In 2008, WHO launched the final report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) that concluded “social injustice is killing people on a grand scale”.

Given the scale of unmet need and the constraints of India’s low government budgets, it will be essential that India’s universal health coverage (UHC) strategy is efficient and equitable. India must invest heavily in primary health care (PHC) services, where health returns are greatest.

The Government of India recently launched the ambitious National Health Protection Mission, also referred to as Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, or Modicare. This scheme has two main pillars: strengthening of universal comprehensive primary health care and a health insurance scheme to cover 500 million people in need to reduce catastrophic out-of-pocket health spending.

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