IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0030362.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Cost of Universal Health Care in India: A Model Based Estimate

Author

Listed:
  • Shankar Prinja
  • Pankaj Bahuguna
  • Andrew D Pinto
  • Atul Sharma
  • Gursimer Bharaj
  • Vishal Kumar
  • Jaya Prasad Tripathy
  • Manmeet Kaur
  • Rajesh Kumar

Abstract

Introduction: As high out-of-pocket healthcare expenses pose heavy financial burden on the families, Government of India is considering a variety of financing and delivery options to universalize health care services. Hence, an estimate of the cost of delivering universal health care services is needed. Methods: We developed a model to estimate recurrent and annual costs for providing health services through a mix of public and private providers in Chandigarh located in northern India. Necessary health services required to deliver good quality care were defined by the Indian Public Health Standards. National Sample Survey data was utilized to estimate disease burden. In addition, morbidity and treatment data was collected from two secondary and two tertiary care hospitals. The unit cost of treatment was estimated from the published literature. For diseases where data on treatment cost was not available, we collected data on standard treatment protocols and cost of care from local health providers. Results: We estimate that the cost of universal health care delivery through the existing mix of public and private health institutions would be INR 1713 (USD 38, 95%CI USD 18–73) per person per annum in India. This cost would be 24% higher, if branded drugs are used. Extrapolation of these costs to entire country indicates that Indian government needs to spend 3.8% (2.1%–6.8%) of the GDP for universalizing health care services. Conclusion: The cost of universal health care delivered through a combination of public and private providers is estimated to be INR 1713 per capita per year in India. Important issues such as delivery strategy for ensuring quality, reducing inequities in access, and managing the growth of health care demand need be explored.

Suggested Citation

  • Shankar Prinja & Pankaj Bahuguna & Andrew D Pinto & Atul Sharma & Gursimer Bharaj & Vishal Kumar & Jaya Prasad Tripathy & Manmeet Kaur & Rajesh Kumar, 2012. "The Cost of Universal Health Care in India: A Model Based Estimate," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0030362
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030362
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0030362
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0030362&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0030362?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    2. Hotchkiss, David R. & Jacobalis, Samsi, 1999. "Indonesian heath care and the economic crisis: is managed care the needed reform?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 195-216, March.
    3. Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy & van der Burg, Hattem & Calonge, Samuel & Christiansen, Terkel & Citoni, Guido & Gerdtham, Ulf-G & Gerfin, Mike & Gross, Lorna & Hakinnen, Unto, 1999. "Equity in the finance of health care: some further international comparisons1," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 263-290, June.
    4. World Bank, 2011. "World Development Indicators 2011," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2315, December.
    5. Le Grand, Julian, 2003. "Motivation, Agency, and Public Policy: Of Knights and Knaves, Pawns and Queens," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199266999.
    6. World Bank, 2010. "World Development Indicators 2010," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4373, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Indrani Gupta & Samik Chowdhury, 2015. "Finances for Health in India: Are New Sources the Way to Go?," IEG Working Papers 356, Institute of Economic Growth.
    2. Deepak Balasubramanian & Shankar Prinja & Arun Kumar Aggarwal, 2015. "Effect of User Charges on Secondary Level Surgical Care Utilization and Out-of-Pocket Expenditures in Haryana State, India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    3. Sasmita Behera & Jalandhar Pradhan, 2021. "Uneven economic burden of non-communicable diseases among Indian households: A comparative analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Neeraj Pandey & Sumi Jha & Vaibhav Rai, 2021. "Ayushman Bharat: Service Adoption Challenges in Universal Healthcare System," South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, , vol. 10(1), pages 35-49, April.
    5. Shankar Prinja & Jagnoor Jagnoor & Akashdeep Singh Chauhan & Sameer Aggarwal & Ha Nguyen & Rebecca Ivers, 2016. "Economic Burden of Hospitalization Due to Injuries in North India: A Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, July.
    6. Anamika Pandey & G Anil Kumar & Rakhi Dandona & Lalit Dandona, 2018. "Variations in catastrophic health expenditure across the states of India: 2004 to 2014," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-15, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Bassetti & Nikos Benos & Stelios Karagiannis, 2013. "CO 2 Emissions and Income Dynamics: What Does the Global Evidence Tell Us?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 54(1), pages 101-125, January.
    2. Arvind Virmani, 2012. "India," Review of Market Integration, India Development Foundation, vol. 4(2), pages 159-195, August.
    3. Imai, Katsushi S. & Gaiha, Raghav & Thapa, Ganesh & Annim, Samuel Kobina, 2012. "Microfinance and Poverty—A Macro Perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1675-1689.
    4. Alkire, Sabina & Santos, Maria Emma, 2014. "Measuring Acute Poverty in the Developing World: Robustness and Scope of the Multidimensional Poverty Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 251-274.
    5. Abdullah, Muhammad & Chani, Muhammad Irfan & Ali, Amjad & Shoukat, Ayza, 2013. "Co-Integration Between Fertility and Human Development Indicators: Evidence from Pakistan," MPRA Paper 49134, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Batuo, Michael & Mlambo, Kupukile & Asongu, Simplice, 2018. "Linkages between financial development, financial instability, financial liberalisation and economic growth in Africa," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 168-179.
    7. Cho, Seo-Young & Dreher, Axel & Neumayer, Eric, 2013. "Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 67-82.
    8. Elena Horská & Luboš Smutka & Mansoor Maitah, 2012. "The impacts of the global economic crisis on selected segments of the world trade in commodities," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 60(7), pages 101-110.
    9. Opfinger, Matthias & Gundlach, Erich, 2011. "Religiosity as a determinant of happiness," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 48360, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    10. Wilfred Dolfsma, 2013. "Government Failure," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15372.
    11. Yu, Bingxin & Nin Pratt, Alejandro, 2011. "Agricultural Productivity and Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 105400, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Lauren A. Johnston & Stephen L. Morgan & Yuesheng Wang, 2015. "The Gravity of China's African Export Promise," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 913-934, June.
    13. Diagne, Aliou & Alia, Didier Y. & Wopereis, Marco C.S. & Saito, Kazuki, 2012. "Impact of Rice Research on Income and Poverty in Africa: An Ex-ante Analysis," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126874, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Georg Hirte & Christian Lessmann, 2014. "Trade, Integration, and Interregional Inequality," CESifo Working Paper Series 4799, CESifo.
    15. Lessmann, Christian, 2014. "Spatial inequality and development — Is there an inverted-U relationship?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 35-51.
    16. Said, Mohamed Ahmed & Shelaby, Ayman Abd-Alkawy, 2014. "Potentials Of Egypt Agricultural Bilateral Trade With The Arab Countries: Gravity Model Evidence," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 2(1), pages 1-12, January.
    17. Tohid Atashbar, 2013. "Iranian Disease: Why a Developing Country's Government Did Not Listen to Economists' Advices," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 732-760, July.
    18. Benczes, István & Rezessy, Gergely, 2013. "Governance in Europe, Trends and Fault Lines," Public Finance Quarterly, Corvinus University of Budapest, vol. 58(2), pages 133-147.
    19. Aristovnik, Aleksander & Obadić, Alka, 2014. "Measuring relative efficiency of secondary education in selected EU and OECD countries: the case of Slovenia and Croatia," MPRA Paper 63936, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Peter Egger & Sergey Nigai, 2015. "Energy Demand and Trade in General Equilibrium," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 60(2), pages 191-213, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0030362. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.