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India’s total health expenditure per capita has increased, even as the total health expenditure as a measure of gross domestic product (GDP) has roughly remained the same from 2013-14 to 2021-22, according to the National Health Accounts Estimates for India 2021-22.
The total health expenditure per capita, which indicates health expenditure per person in the country at current prices for 2021-22, was calculated to be Rs 6,602. This marked an 82 per cent jump from Rs 3,638 in 2013-14, the report released by the National Health Authority, the apex body responsible for implementing India's public health insurance and assurance scheme, noted in its ninth round of estimates for India.
The total health expenditure considers current and capital expenditures incurred by government and private sources. It was estimated to be Rs 9,04,461 crore, 3.83 per cent of GDP for the year 2021-22.
The report also highlighted that the government health expenditure as a share of the total health expenditure went up by 68 per cent, from 28.6 per cent in 2013-14 to 48 per cent in 2021-22.
On the other hand, the out-of-pocket expenditures as a share of the total health expenditure dropped by 39 per cent during the same period. This metric indicates extent of financial protection available for households towards healthcare payments.
India’s current health expenditure, which constitutes only recurrent expenditures for healthcare purposes, was Rs 7,89,760 crore. The current health expenditure as the total health expenditure denotes the operational expenditures on healthcare that impact the health outcomes of the population for the same period. It was 87 per cent, the report highlighted.
Of the current health expenditures, contribution from the Union government and the state was 15.94 per cent and 21.77 per cent, respectively.
Further, households’ share, including insurance contributions, was the highest. It stood at about Rs 3,99,136 crore, making up 51 per cent of current health expenditure.
Private health insurance expenditures proportional to the total health expenditure went up by roughly 118 per cent from 2013-14 to 2021-22.
Private Health Insurance expenditure, involving the premiums households or employers pay, is Rs 66,975 crore, which is 7.40 per cent of the total health expenditure for 2021-22.
Of the current health expenditure, government hospitals contributed 18.99 per cent and private hospitals 26.96 per cent.
As for services, inpatient curative care was Rs 2,99,587 crore, 37.94 per cent of the current health expenditure, followed by prescribed medicines at Rs 1,26,225 crore (15.98 per cent), outpatient curative care (15.30 per cent), preventive care (13.55 per cent), patient transportation (3.65 per cent), laboratory and imaging services (3.32 per cent), over the counter medicines (3.22 per cent), among others.
Among states, the total health expenditure was the highest in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. States that saw the highest out-of-pocket expenditure relative to the government expenditure were Uttar Pradesh, estimated at 64 per cent of the total expenditure, followed by Kerala (59 per cent) and West Bengal (58 per cent).