New Delhi, Jul 22 (PTI) The government’s flagship Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme has not only lowered the burden of healthcare costs on families but is also helping them avoid falling into debt due to catastrophic expenditure on treatment, according to the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament on Monday.
Citing the Health Ministry’s estimates, the survey report 2023-2024 highlighted that the total cost of treatment would have been 1.5-2 times higher if the beneficiary had availed the same treatment on their own outside the ambit of AB PM-JAY.
Upon incorporating this multiplier effect of low costs, the scheme corresponds to saving more than 1.25 lakh crore of out-of-pocket expenditures (OOPE) for poor and deprived families (as of 12 January 2024), the report stated.
“Hence, besides shielding the populace from market vulnerabilities, Ayushman Bharat also protects the healthcare delivery system from micro-economic shocks,” the report said.
Catastrophic, unforeseen health expenses can result in the impoverishment of individuals and families, it said.
“It can force resource-poor individuals/households to forego treatment or resort to debt to undertake the treatment. Mitigating healthcare costs is anticipated to improve financial stability and loan repayment capacity,” the report stated.
PMJAY’s implementation has markedly improved credit market outcomes in India, highlighting the interplay between health insurance and financial stability.
This underscores the potential of public health initiatives to create significant economic benefits beyond healthcare.
More than 34.7 crore Ayushman Bharat cards have been generated so far, and the scheme has covered 7.37 crore hospital admissions with 49 per cent of beneficiaries being females.
In the medium term, health premiums are projected to grow by 9.7 per cent annually in 2024-28, with regulatory initiatives to improve the attractiveness of insurance offering some support.
Referring to a recent paper, the economic survey report stated that PMJAY implementation has been found to correlate with a significant reduction in NPA rates in microfinance loans.
The study notes that the NPA rate in the PMJAY-implemented districts decreased by 3.7 to 4.0 percentage points compared to non-implemented regions.
This represents a 34.6 per cent to 34.1 per cent reduction relative to the average NPA rates, an economically significant impact.
For emerging economies, where large segments of the population might lack access to health insurance, programmes like PMJAY can play a crucial role in enhancing economic stability, the study highlighted.
“PMJAY’s implementation has markedly improved credit market outcomes in India, highlighting the interplay between health insurance and financial stability. This underscores the potential of public health initiatives to create significant economic benefits beyond healthcare,” the report underlined.
Over the past few years, healthcare has become more affordable and accessible for the general public, as noted by the National Health Accounts (NHA) estimates, the report said.
The latest NHA (for FY20) shows an increase in the share of Government Health Expenditure (GHE) in the total GDP as well as the share of GHE in Total Health Expenditure (THE).
Over the years, health expenditure has tilted towards primary healthcare as a building block of the overall health ecosystem.
Research has established the importance of primary health care as critical to improving health outcomes, preventing several primary and secondary disease conditions, and reducing morbidity and mortality at much lower costs, thus significantly reducing the need for secondary and tertiary care.
Consequently, the share of primary healthcare expenditure has increased from 51.3 per cent of GHE in FY15 to 55.9 per cent of GHE in FY20.
On the other hand, the share of primary and secondary care in private health expenditure has declined from 83.0 per cent to 73.7 per cent during the same period, attributable to rising tertiary disease burden and utilisation of Government facilities for primary healthcare.
The social security expenditure on health, which includes the social health insurance programme, government-financed health insurance schemes, and medical reimbursements made to government employees, has increased significantly from 5.7 per cent in FY15 to 9.3 per cent in FY20.
“The rising GHE and health-related social security expenditure go hand in hand with a decline in out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) as a percentage of THE between FY15 and FY20,” the report said.
Among the healthcare schemes, quality medicines are available at 50-90 per cent cheaper than market rates at PM Jan Aushadhi Kendras operational across the country.
There are 16.96 lakh wellness, yoga, and meditation sessions, 1.89 crore Tele consultations, free drugs availed by 11.64 crore people and free diagnostics services have been availed by 9.28 crore people under the Ayushman Bhav Campaign since Sep 2023.
Also, 2.0 crore patients consulted general OPD, while 90.69 lakh patients consulted specialist OPD, and 65,094 major surgeries and 1,96,156 minor surgeries were conducted and 1.20 lakh Ayushman Sabhas were organised.
The cumulative footfall reached 20.66 crore in 25.25 lakh health melas (as of 31 March 2024), the report stated. PTI PLB RT RT
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