Government-Sponsored Health Insurance in India : Are You Covered?

Since independence, India has struggled to provide its people with universal health coverage. Whether defined in terms of financial protection or access to and effective use of health care, the majority of Indians remain irregularly and incompletel...

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Main Authors: La Forgia, Gerard, Nagpal, Somil
Format: Publication
Language:English
en_US
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/08/16653451/government-sponsored-health-insurance-india-covered
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11957
id okr-10986-11957
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-119572021-04-23T14:02:58Z Government-Sponsored Health Insurance in India : Are You Covered? La Forgia, Gerard Nagpal, Somil Financial protection Health financing Health insurance Health provision Health coverage Social insurance Targeting of the poor Universal health coverage Public-private partnerships Since independence, India has struggled to provide its people with universal health coverage. Whether defined in terms of financial protection or access to and effective use of health care, the majority of Indians remain irregularly and incompletely covered. Finally, and most recently, a new generation of Government-Sponsored Health Insurance Schemes (GSHISs) has emerged to provide the poor with financial coverage. Briefly, the main objective of these new GSHISs was to offer financial protection against catastrophic health shocks, defined in terms of an inpatient stay. Between 2007 and 2010, six major schemes have emerged, including one sponsored by the Government of India (GOI) and five state-sponsored schemes. This new wave of schemes provides fully subsidized coverage for a limited package of secondary or tertiary inpatient care, targeting below poverty populations. Similar to the private voluntary insurance products in the country, ambulatory services including drugs are not covered except as part of an episode of illness requiring an inpatient stay. The schemes have organized hospital networks consisting of public and private facilities, and most care funded by these schemes is provided in private hospitals. Ostensibly, the objective of any health insurance scheme is to increase access, utilization, and financial protection, and ultimately improve health status. Due to lack of evaluations and analyses of household data, the authors of this book do not examine the impact of health insurance in terms of these objectives. This book is not meant to highlight problems of the GSHISs, but rather to raise potential challenges and emerging issues that should be addressed to ensure the long-term viability of these schemes and secure their place within the health finance and delivery system. 2012-12-11T19:25:49Z 2012-12-11T19:25:49Z 2012-08-26 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/08/16653451/government-sponsored-health-insurance-india-covered 978-0-8213-9618-6 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11957 English en_US Directions in development : human development; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Publications & Research :: Publication Publications & Research :: Publication South Asia India
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic Financial protection
Health financing
Health insurance
Health provision
Health coverage
Social insurance
Targeting of the poor
Universal health coverage
Public-private partnerships
spellingShingle Financial protection
Health financing
Health insurance
Health provision
Health coverage
Social insurance
Targeting of the poor
Universal health coverage
Public-private partnerships
La Forgia, Gerard
Nagpal, Somil
Government-Sponsored Health Insurance in India : Are You Covered?
geographic_facet South Asia
India
relation Directions in development : human development;
description Since independence, India has struggled to provide its people with universal health coverage. Whether defined in terms of financial protection or access to and effective use of health care, the majority of Indians remain irregularly and incompletely covered. Finally, and most recently, a new generation of Government-Sponsored Health Insurance Schemes (GSHISs) has emerged to provide the poor with financial coverage. Briefly, the main objective of these new GSHISs was to offer financial protection against catastrophic health shocks, defined in terms of an inpatient stay. Between 2007 and 2010, six major schemes have emerged, including one sponsored by the Government of India (GOI) and five state-sponsored schemes. This new wave of schemes provides fully subsidized coverage for a limited package of secondary or tertiary inpatient care, targeting below poverty populations. Similar to the private voluntary insurance products in the country, ambulatory services including drugs are not covered except as part of an episode of illness requiring an inpatient stay. The schemes have organized hospital networks consisting of public and private facilities, and most care funded by these schemes is provided in private hospitals. Ostensibly, the objective of any health insurance scheme is to increase access, utilization, and financial protection, and ultimately improve health status. Due to lack of evaluations and analyses of household data, the authors of this book do not examine the impact of health insurance in terms of these objectives. This book is not meant to highlight problems of the GSHISs, but rather to raise potential challenges and emerging issues that should be addressed to ensure the long-term viability of these schemes and secure their place within the health finance and delivery system.
format Publications & Research :: Publication
author La Forgia, Gerard
Nagpal, Somil
author_facet La Forgia, Gerard
Nagpal, Somil
author_sort La Forgia, Gerard
title Government-Sponsored Health Insurance in India : Are You Covered?
title_short Government-Sponsored Health Insurance in India : Are You Covered?
title_full Government-Sponsored Health Insurance in India : Are You Covered?
title_fullStr Government-Sponsored Health Insurance in India : Are You Covered?
title_full_unstemmed Government-Sponsored Health Insurance in India : Are You Covered?
title_sort government-sponsored health insurance in india : are you covered?
publishDate 2012
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/08/16653451/government-sponsored-health-insurance-india-covered
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11957
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