NITI Aayog, the think tank of the Government of India has proposed a compulsory Health Insurance for all due to the rising pollution by a complete transformation of India’s health system. They have introduced basic standard benefits for all health insurance coverage across the country.
In its report titled “Health System for a New India: Building Blocks”, which was released by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr. Rajiv Kumar in the presence of Bill Gates on Monday. The report focused on overcoming the challenges of fragmentation across healthcare financing and service delivery that would help India optimize both quality and access.
“There are important health insurance and public funding efficiency and equity reasons for introducing a standard benefits package as reference for all insurance coverage in India. Benefits package fragmentation occurs not only involuntary commercial health insurance (which traditionally does provide a diverse set of health insurance products) but also among publicly-subsidized schemes and packages, resulting in publicly-funded coverage inequity,” NITI Aayog said.
“If central governments play an equalization role, it is very difficult to do so in the absence of a standard benefits package, which would set the minimum level of services that a country wants all members of society to have, as well as can afford and use to estimate costs and fund allocations,” the report said.
“In the absence of such standardized reference and gap identification, it is impossible to judge the gaps that the central government equalization and policy facilitation roles need to target. A standard benefits package also plays a substantial role in guiding the future development of commercial health insurance. It would ensure coverage of essential and insurable events under risk pooling arrangements,” it added.
“Therefore, the standard minimum coverage is also essential for the healthy development of commercial insurance aligned with long term sustainability of the system,” the report said.
Bill Gates said that India was in a very hopeful situation and was set to be an example for other countries. He further added that the private sector needs to be involved to meet key challenges and that the Gates Foundation stands firm with India through its initiatives extended with all the possible help for the potential scheme to implement compulsory health insurance for all citizens in India.
The report focuses on 5 center areas of the future health system, deliver on unfinished Public health agenda, change health financing away from out of pocket to spend into large insurers, integrate service delivery vertically and horizontally, empower citizens to become better buyers of health, harness the power of digital health.