Context
Over 40 per cent of healthcare expenses in India are paid out-of-pocket, one of the highest rates worldwide. Consequently, these costs push more than 60 million Indians into poverty every year. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical need for robust and universal healthcare systems. Although several social health insurance schemes exist nationally and within states, their coordination remains insufficient, leading to partial overlap and underutilisation of their full potential.
To address these challenges and improve healthcare in India, the Ayushman Bharat initiative launched in September 2018. This includes the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), the world’s largest fully government-funded public health assurance/insurance scheme. It provides health coverage to over 500 million families and is accessible through a network of more than 30,000 authorised public and private hospitals across the country. As a result, it reduces the risk of poverty for low-income families by eliminating the need for them to rely on their own financial resources to pay for healthcare services.
Objective
The conditions for achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in India have been improved by implementing the public health assurance/insurance scheme AB PM-JAY.
