This paper has threefold objectives: (a) to discuss the background and the need for a health insurance scheme; (b) to examine the different health insurance schemes including Community Based Universal Health Insurance Scheme (CBUHIS) and the most recent one proposed by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS); and (c) to summarize broad lessons from existing health insurance schemes to foreground the broad contours of the most desirable insurance scheme in the Indian context.