NEW DELHI, Oct 31 (NNN-PTI) – In the absence of low-cost health insurance products, nearly 30 percent of India’s population, or 400 million people, are devoid of any financial protection, an Indian think tank said in a report.
The Indian government’s top policy think tank, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog (commission), said in its latest report, expansion of health insurance coverage is a necessary step and a pathway in India’s effort to achieve health coverage.
In the report titled: Health Insurance for India’s Missing Middle, the government think tank suggests, both the private and public sectors build a modified, standardised product to cover all disease treatments.
It said that low government expenditure on health constrained the capacity and quality of healthcare services in the public sector.
The think tank also noted that India’s population is vulnerable to catastrophic spending, and is plagued with impoverishment from expensive trips to hospitals and other health facilities.– NNN-PTI
