Paper: GS-II, Subject: Society and Social Justice, Topic: Social sector- Health, Issue: Issues with OOPE measurement.
Context:
National Health Accounts (NHA) estimates show a steep decline in OOPE as a share of total health expenditure and GDP. However, questions remain on the reliability of these estimates due to methodological and data limitations.
What is Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE)?
- Direct spending by households on health services not covered by insurance or public health systems.
- It includes spending on medicines, hospitalisation, diagnostics, consultation fees, and transport.
- It often forces families to dip into savings, sell assets, borrow, or forgo care.
- In India, out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) by households remains the main source of health financing.
Implications of High OOPE
- Poverty & Distress: Pushes households into debt, asset sales, and poverty traps.
- Education & Livelihood Impact: Children withdrawn from school and women forced into longer working hours.
- Health Inequalities: Poor families often forgo treatment, worsening morbidity and mortality.
Current Estimates and Trends
NHA Data (2017–18):
- It depicts sharp decline in OOPE, seen as positive outcome of government health schemes such as PM-JAY and NHM.
Issues with Current Measurement
Way Forward
- Improve Data Systems: Move beyond single NSS dataset and integrate data from CMIE, NFHS, private surveys, and insurance databases.
- Independent Validation: Establish mechanisms for triangulation of health spending data from multiple sources.
- Granular Analysis: District-level and rural-urban disaggregation for realistic OOPE mapping.
- Expand Public Health Financing: Increase government spending on health to 2.5% of GDP (National Health Policy target) and reduce household spending on health.
- Strengthen Insurance Coverage: Universal health coverage with comprehensive benefits, not limited to hospitalisation.
Conclusion: While NHA data suggests decline, methodological gaps and conflicting evidence call for caution. India needs robust, validated, and multi-source health expenditure data to ensure effective policymaking and progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
La Excellence IAS Academy, the best IAS coaching in Hyderabad, known for delivering quality content and conceptual clarity for UPSC 2025 preparation.
FOLLOW US ON:
â—‰ YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@CivilsPrepTeam
â—‰ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaExcellenceIAS
â—‰ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laexcellenceiasacademy/
GET IN TOUCH:
Contact us at info@laex.in, https://laex.in/contact-us/
or Call us @ +91 9052 29 2929, +91 9052 99 2929, +91 9154 24 2140
OUR BRANCHES:
Head Office: H No: 1-10-225A, Beside AEVA Fertility Center, Ashok Nagar Extension, VV Giri Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Hyderabad, 500020
Madhapur: Flat no: 301, survey no 58-60, Guttala begumpet Madhapur metro pillar: 1524, Rangareddy Hyderabad, Telangana 500081
Bangalore: Plot No: 99, 2nd floor, 80 Feet Road, Beside Poorvika Mobiles, Chandra Layout, Attiguppe, Near Vijaya Nagara, Bengaluru, 560040
