Putting the ‘Universal’ in Health Care (The Indian Express)

From the article:

Universal health coverage (UHC) is at the heart of the government’s healthcare agenda. The 12th Five Year Plan targets a long-term goal of UHC where “each individual would have assured access to a defined essential range of medicines and treatment at an affordable price, which would be entirely free for a large percentage of the population”. But this year’s reduced budgetary allocation raises troublesome questions about its ability to meet the UHC objective.

The goals for UHC are laudable: a combination of better health across the population, greater equity in access to health services and reduction of the vulnerability of households to financial ruin from health shocks. With nearly 80 per cent of health spending being out-of-pocket, health shocks are a major cause of poverty.

Read the article here.