Around 40 Crore Individuals Don't Have Any Financial Assistance Through Health Insurance: NITI Ayog

The report titled, ‘Health Insurance for India’s Missing Middle’ suggests that there is a need to expand the health insurance for India to achieve Universal Health Coverage, PTI reported.

New Delhi: At least 30% of the population surmising 40 crore individuals are still devoid of any financial assistance via health insurance in the country, as per the NITI Ayog's report. The report titled, ‘Health Insurance for India’s Missing Middle’ suggests that there is a need to expand the health insurance for India to achieve Universal Health Coverage, PTI reported.

“At least 30 per cent of the population, or 40 crore individuals called the missing middle in this report is devoid of any financial protection for health… In the absence of a low-cost health insurance product, the missing middle remains uncovered despite the ability to pay nominal premiums," the official report was quoted by PTI in its report. The "Missing middle" in the NITI Ayog report refers to the category of individuals who lies between the financial deprived poorer section and the relatively well-off section of the society. This category of individuals lacks health insurance.

In spite of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) launched in September 2018, and state government extension schemes, which provides hospitalisation cover to 50% of the total population of the country, 30% of the population are still devoid of health insurance.

According to the report, the actual figure of those who lacks health insurance may be higher "due to existing coverage gaps in PMJAY and overlap between scheme." The uncovered population is the Missing middle, the report said. “The missing middle is spread across all expenditure quintiles, in both urban and rural areas, though they are concentrated in the top two quintiles of urban areas," reads the official report.

"In the short term, the focus should be on expanding private voluntary insurance through commercial insurers. In the medium term, once the supply-side and utilization of PMJAY and ESIC is strengthened, their infrastructure can be leveraged to allow voluntary contributions to a PMJAY plus product, or to ESIC's existing medical benefits. In the long-term, once the low-cost voluntary contributory health insurance market is developed, expansion of PMJAY to the uncovered poorer segments of the missing middle should be considered," the report suggests.

(With inputs from Agencies)