India has a semi-federal governance structure. Public responsibilities are shared either by the Union or the States or both. Health is a State subject in India. Thus, Union and State strategies for health might align, differ, or co-adapt. Government spending on health is mainly based on budget allocations as part of the annually announced Union (Central) budget as well as state budget allocations and central transfers to states.

A scheme launched by the Government of India in 2018 is the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), which is part of the Ayushman Bharat programme. This scheme is designed to have a defined benefit cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year (National Health Portal, 2019). Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country and a beneficiary covered under the scheme will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public/private impanelled hospitals across the country (National Health Portal, 2019). It is an entitlement-based scheme with entitlement decided based on deprivation criteria in the Socio-Economic Caste Census database (National Health Portal, 2019).

The Ayushman Bharat flagship programme brings together initiatives of the National Health Insurance (PMJAY) and the Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) (National Health Portal, 2019). The programme is based on tax-based financing and thus, critically depends on the Centre’s allocations to the programme.

References:

National Health Portal. (2019). Ayushman Bharat Yojana. Government of India. Available from: https://www.nhp.gov.in/ayushman-bharat-yojana_pg