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Fiscal Policy for Equity:Analysing the Public Expenditure Benefit Incidence of Health Sector in India

Author

Listed:
  • Chakraborty, Lekha

    (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy)

  • Bhadra, Kaushik

    (UNICEF)

  • Arora, Rashmi

    (University of Bradford)

Abstract

The public expenditure benefit incidence analysis captures how well public services are targeted to certain groups in the population, across gender, ethnicity, income quintiles and geographical units. The BIA involves allocating unit cost according to individual utilization rates of public services. Using the latest International Classification of Diseases (ICD) produced by World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2024, we examine the disease-wise utilisation of publicly subsidised healthcare in India using benefit incidence analysis. Quite contrary to the earlier studies on benefit incidence analysis based on "aggregate" public health spending, our study attempts the benefit capture at the disaggregate level by meticulously mapping the WHO_ICD disease-specific codes to the data extracted from the unit records of the latest National Sample Survey health 75th rounds. Our broad findings based on the WHO_ICD disease-specific benefit incidence analysis revealed that the public health subsidy appears to be pro-poor or progressive in distribution for WHO_ICD categories, however with evident gender differentials. The disaggregated benefit incidence analysis based on ICD codes also showed that there is no "elite capture" in the public health financing in India. This inference has policy implications for strengthening the role of fiscal policy in tackling inequalities in the access and utilisation of health care in India.

Suggested Citation

  • Chakraborty, Lekha & Bhadra, Kaushik & Arora, Rashmi, 2025. "Fiscal Policy for Equity:Analysing the Public Expenditure Benefit Incidence of Health Sector in India," Working Papers 25/425, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:npf:wpaper:25/425
    Note: Working Paper 425, 2025
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

    concentration curve ; public healthcare ; health inequality ; benefit incidence analysis ; gender;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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