INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Over 90 million Indians live in households where spending on healthcare accounts for more than 10% of their total expenditure
Of these, 31 million live in families where the health spend is more than a quarter of household expenditure
The proportion of households spending over 10% or 25% of their expenditure on healthcare has gone up between 2017-18 and 2022-23.This was
revealed in the Sustainable Development Goals National Indicator Framework Progress Report 2023, released recently by the statistics
Catastrophic health expenditure is defined as health spending exceeding 10% of household consumption expenditure
The third of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is to provide universal health coverage (UHC) and to improve financial
protection, thus preventing catastrophic spending
UHC includes securing access to quality healthcare and safe, affordable medicines and vaccines for everyone.According to the progress
report, the proportion of households where more than 10% of expenditure was on health went up from 4.5% to 6.7% while that of those spending
over 25% on healthcare went up from 1.6% to 2.3%.In 2022-23, the highest proportion of people spending more than 10% or 25% of household
expenditure on health were in Kerala, 16% and 6% respectively, followed by Maharashtra where it was 9% and 3% respectively
Kerala also saw the biggest jump in this proportion between 2017-18 and 2022-23
Other states which saw a significant increase are Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana in that order.According to the National Health Accounts
2019-20, out of pocket expenditure (OOPE) as a proportion of the total health expenditure (68%) was the second highest in Kerala, just below
Uttar Pradesh where it was 72%
Uttar Pradesh is among the five states with the highest proportion of households spending more than 10% or 25% of their expenditure on
However, in the case of Karnataka, though OOPE as a proportion of total health expenditure is the lowest among the bigger states (31.8%),
the state is among those which have witnessed the highest increase in the proportion of households using more than 10% and 25% of the
expenditure on healthcare.In June 2021, the Niti Aayog estimated that at least 400 million people or about 30% of the population did not
have any financial protection for health, leading to high out-of-pocket expenditure and impoverishment
It also estimated that the actual uncovered population would be higher due to existing coverage gaps in PMJAY and overlaps between
schemes.Govt fixes prices of 53 popular drugsTheNational Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has fixed the ceiling price of two anti-coagulant
and 51 other drug formulations, including medicines used to manage diabetes, in a notification dated June 28
Prices of 24 anti-diabetic formulations containing dapagliflozin, another 14 with vildagliptin and two with sitagliptin molecules have also
Paroxetine controlled release and Clonazepam capsules for the treatment of depression will be priced at Rs 15.8per capsule
It is the maximum price for retailers (excluding GST, if any) for a given product
In case the retail price of any of the above formulations is not complied with, as per instant price notification, then the
manufacturer/marketing company shall be liable to deposit the overcharged amount along with interest thereon under the provisions of the
DPCO 2013, read with the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, the notification said
In 2022, the health ministry had notified the inclusion of coronary stents in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2022, to make
the life-saving medical devices more affordable
