Is RSBY India’s platform to implementing universal hospital insurance.
Article
in English
| IMSEAR
| ID: sea-137372
ABSTRACT
Background & objectives:
In 2008, India’s Labour Ministry launched a hospital insurance scheme called Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) covering ‘Below Poverty Line’ (BPL) households. RSBY is implemented through insurance companies; premiums are subsidized by Union and States governments (75 25%). We examined RSBY’s enrolment of BPL, costs vs. budgets and policy ramifications.Methods:
Numbers of BPL are obtained by following criteria of two committees appointed for this task. District-specific premiums are weighted to obtain national average premiums. Using the BPL estimates and national premiums, we calculated overall expected costs of full roll-out of the RSBY per annum, and compared it to Union government budget allocations.Results:
By March 31, 2011, RSBY enrolled about 27.8 per cent of the number of BPL households following the Tendulkar Committee estimates (37.6% following the Lakdawala Committee criteria). The average national weighted premium was ` 530 per household per year in 2011. The expected cost of premium to the union government of enrolling the entire BPL population in financial year (FY) 2010-11 would be ` 33.5 billion using Tendulkar count of BPL (or ` 24.6 billion following Lakdawala count), representing about 0.3 per cent (or 0.2%, respectively) of the total union budget. The RSBY budget allocation for FY 2010-11 was only about 0.037 per cent of the total union budget, sufficient to pay premiums of only 34 per cent of the BPL households enrolled by March 31, 2011. Interpretation &conclusions:
RSBY could be the platform for universal health insurance when (i) the budget allocation will match the required funds for maintenance and expansion of the scheme; (ii) the scheme would ensure that beneficiaries’ rights are legally anchored; and (iii) RSBY would attract large numbers of premiumpaying (non-BPL) households.
Full text:
Available
Index:
IMSEAR (South-East Asia)
Main subject:
Poverty
/
Public Health
/
Financial Management
/
Health Policy
/
India
/
Insurance, Health
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Year:
2012
Type:
Article
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