Financing Healthcare in India: Ensuring Universal Health Coverage

Healthcare financing is a critical aspect of any healthcare system, and in India, it has gained increasing recognition as an area of major policy relevance to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The generation, allocation, and use of financial resources in the health system play a crucial role in ensuring equity and quality healthcare for everyone.

Understanding the Healthcare Financing System

The country's healthcare financing system encompasses the recognition of current finances available for health and strategies to raise more funds. It involves the allocation of resources in a way that prioritizes equity and quality healthcare, aiming to improve access to health services and reduce out-of-pocket expenditures that can lead to catastrophic healthcare expenses and impoverishment.

The Role of Government Intervention

In developing countries like India, the increasing disease burden puts significant stress on scarce household finances. The economic burden varies across different disease groups and care levels. Government intervention is vital in formulating policies to address financial distress at the household level. It is essential to focus not only on reducing household expenditure on inpatient care but also on providing financial risk protection for outpatient care.

Hardship Financing in India

Despite the government schemes to reduce household expenditure on inpatient care, many people in India resort to hardship financing practices in the event of health shocks. Hardship financing includes informal borrowing or selling of assets to cover healthcare expenses. A study conducted in India evaluated the correlation between different diseases and hardship financing for both inpatients and outpatients. The results revealed that cancer had the highest likelihood of causing hardship financing for both groups. This highlights the need for government intervention to decrease the financial burden caused by cancer and provide more financial risk protection for outpatient care.

Changes in Hardship Financing over Time

The study also analyzed the change in hardship financing from 2014 to 2018. It showed a decrease in hardship financing for inpatients during this period, while hardship financing for outpatients increased. This suggests the need for continuous monitoring and evaluation of healthcare financing policies to address the changing needs and challenges in the healthcare system.

Addressing Intra-Household Inequalities

The study also found that the likelihood of resorting to hardship financing for illness was lesser among women compared to men. This highlights the existence of intra-household inequalities and the need to address them in healthcare financing strategies. Achieving universal health coverage requires considering the unique challenges faced by different population groups and ensuring equitable access to healthcare services.

Conclusion

Financing healthcare in India is a complex task that requires a multi-faceted approach. Government intervention, along with the recognition of current finances available for health and strategies to raise more funds, is crucial to achieve Universal Health Coverage. Addressing hardship financing, reducing the financial burden caused by diseases like cancer, and providing financial risk protection for outpatient care are key components of an effective healthcare financing system. By prioritizing equity and quality healthcare, India can ensure that everyone has access to the healthcare services they need without facing catastrophic healthcare expenses.