The NDA government lost precious time in its first three years in initiating a health scheme that serves the twin purposes of achieving universal coverage and saving people from high health care costs. These are challenging goals, given the fragmented nature of India’s health system. A national health system will also have to subsume all existing state-funded insurance schemes. But the efficiency of a large-scale health system depends on strict regulation. This will also aid those with private health insurance, since it eliminates information asymmetry and provides a comparison point.

Source: The Hindu February 03, 2018 00:22 UTC