Decentralised Curative Health Service Delivery in India:Evidence from Public Expenditure Benefit Incidence

To critically evaluate the decentralised public health service delivery in India, this paper analyses the benefit incidence from public health expenditure on curative health care provided as inpatient care for three states of Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala to examine whether the spending is pro-poor. Using unit record data of NSS, it compares two points of time, i.e., 2004-2005 and 2014- 2015, to find out whether the decentralised spending has led to improved targeting. The concentration curves and computed unit costs show regional and gender differentials across economic classes in access to inpatient health care.