NEW DELHI: India currently spends a little over 1% of GDP on health, far below Singapore which has the lowest public spend on health at 2.2% of GDP among countries with significant universal health coverage (UHC) service, according latest National Health Profile (NHP) data.
India’s per capita public expenditure on health increased from Rs 621 in 2009-10 to Rs 1,112 (around $16 at current exchange rate) in 2015-16. However, it is still "nominal", compared to other countries. Switzerland spends $6944 on health per capita, whereas the US spends $4802 and UK spends $3500.
But this could change as the centre plans to launch its ambitious National Health Protection Schem (NHPS)- Ayushman Bharat – to cover over 10 crore poor families with an annual health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family. Modicare, as it is called, is billed to be the world’s largest such government-run insurance scheme.
According to NHP (2018), around 43 crore individuals or 34% of the population were covered under any health insurance in 2016-17. Launching the NHP, health minister JP Nadda said NHPS will significantly bring down the out of pocket expenditure on health.
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