Health Financing in Progressive India - A Comparative Analysis of Priorities

Objective: a. To estimate the budget priorities for health, b. To estimate the increase in public health expenditure required to achieve the declared health goals.

Materials and Method: This study is an analytical study based on budget estimates placed in public domain. The study estimates the health expenditure across various components of the national rural health mission in comparison with the total health expenditure. The study also compares the expenditures of other sectors like Defense and compares it with health expenditure.

Result: a. General government health expenditure (GGHE) has been roughly 2 % of the general government expenditure (GGE), out of which National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) expenditure takes a share of about 50%. This is about 0.9% to 1.1% of the GGE.

b. The expenditure on defense is 7 to 10 times more than that made on health and 14-20 times that of NRHM annually. This is with respect to General Government Expenditure.

Conclusion: Increase of 0.2% of GDP per annum on healthcare, to help government reach the goal of 1% of GDP increases in its contribution, would mean an increase in the share of health expenditure by nearly 1% from the present estimation of 2.29% in 2011-12 to 3.07% in 2012-2013. The expenditure of NRHM would increase from 1.13 % of GGE to 1.62% of GGE. Percentage GDP for the allocation could be the policy road map, however, share in expenditure budget could be a more cognitive approach in determining the operational guidelines to achieve policy objectives.