Indian government's ambitious plan to provide Rs. 5 Lakh (USD 7860) per year health insurance per family to India's poor and lower middle class - 100 million families with about 500 million beneficiaries
India Wants to Give Half a Billion People Free Health Care, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/business/india-modi-health-care.html, 1st Feb. 2018
A small extract from the article:
"India’s government spent just 1.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product on health care in 2014, little changed as a proportion of the economy in 20 years, according to the World Bank. China, by contrast, spent 3.1 percent of its G.D.P. on health care in 2014; the United States spent 8.3 percent in the same year."
Ravi: Finance minister Jaitley's budget is aiming to change that for the better for India's poor and lower middle class by offering each family a govt-funded Rs. 5 Lakh (about USD 7860) health coverage each year.
Another article on it in a mainstream Indian newspaper: Budget 2018: Jaitley announces ‘world’s largest healthcare programme’,
http://www.thehindu.com/business/budget/budget-2018-jaitley-announces-worlds-largest-healthcare-programme/article22618631.ece, 1st Feb. 2018
The above article states the health insurance scheme, called National Health Protection Scheme "will cover 10 crore vulnerable families, with approximately 50 crore beneficiaries." 10 crore is 100 million and 50 crore is 500 million or half a billion.
It quotes the Union Finance minister as saying, “We are slowly progressing towards universal health coverage”. And that the scheme would be the “world’s largest healthcare programme”.
Ravi: It is an ambitious plan and will certainly win the support of the poor and lower middle class of India, if it gets implemented well with proper financial support. Let us see how it goes.
Meanwhile the New York Times article linked earlier, has caught the attention of USA Senator Bernie Sanders who shared the link on Facebook with some comments, here: https://www.facebook.com/senatorsanders/posts/10156724563297908. The first sentence of Senator Sanders' comment is: "Countries all over the world, including India and Egypt, are moving toward universal health care coverage."
[I thank nytimes.com, thehindu.com and USA Senator Bernie Sanders, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above very small extracts from their websites/Facebook posts on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
A small extract from the article:
"India’s government spent just 1.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product on health care in 2014, little changed as a proportion of the economy in 20 years, according to the World Bank. China, by contrast, spent 3.1 percent of its G.D.P. on health care in 2014; the United States spent 8.3 percent in the same year."
Ravi: Finance minister Jaitley's budget is aiming to change that for the better for India's poor and lower middle class by offering each family a govt-funded Rs. 5 Lakh (about USD 7860) health coverage each year.
Another article on it in a mainstream Indian newspaper: Budget 2018: Jaitley announces ‘world’s largest healthcare programme’,
http://www.thehindu.com/business/budget/budget-2018-jaitley-announces-worlds-largest-healthcare-programme/article22618631.ece, 1st Feb. 2018
The above article states the health insurance scheme, called National Health Protection Scheme "will cover 10 crore vulnerable families, with approximately 50 crore beneficiaries." 10 crore is 100 million and 50 crore is 500 million or half a billion.
It quotes the Union Finance minister as saying, “We are slowly progressing towards universal health coverage”. And that the scheme would be the “world’s largest healthcare programme”.
Ravi: It is an ambitious plan and will certainly win the support of the poor and lower middle class of India, if it gets implemented well with proper financial support. Let us see how it goes.
Meanwhile the New York Times article linked earlier, has caught the attention of USA Senator Bernie Sanders who shared the link on Facebook with some comments, here: https://www.facebook.com/senatorsanders/posts/10156724563297908. The first sentence of Senator Sanders' comment is: "Countries all over the world, including India and Egypt, are moving toward universal health care coverage."
[I thank nytimes.com, thehindu.com and USA Senator Bernie Sanders, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above very small extracts from their websites/Facebook posts on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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