In India, there are two kinds of
insurances - Social Health Insurance (e.g. Employees State Insurance Scheme)
& Voluntary Health Insurance. Even after years of grappling with health
insurances, 71% of the healthcare costs are borne by the households. CGHS
(Central Government Health Scheme), ESI (Employees State Insurance) and private
insurance providers are major participants but they often ignore the population
that needs the healthcare insurance the most.
Self Help Groups and NGOs extend
a number of Community based health insurance schemes. However, this covers only less than 1% of the country’s population. ESIS and CGHS taken together constituted 41% of total spending on insurance. The government has rolled out
various schemes like RSBY (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna) that cover population
in informal sector but only the BPL (Below Poverty Line) and marginalized
population. Still a large non-formal sector is there that is above the BPL but
in dire need of health insurance as they are most susceptible to catastrophic
health expenditures and fall below poverty line due to health expenditures.
