New Delhi: The Planning Commission task force has offered to provide universal healthcare to the citizens of India by introducing a new cess for funding.
This idea aims at offering cashless healthcare to all sections of society in the country. It has been proposed to use general taxation as the chief means of financing the healthcare in the country, complemented by additional mandatory deductions from salaried individuals and principal tax payers in the country.
The report is titled “Universal Health Care “. It displays that high private out-of-pocket expenditure on health is among the chief causes of poverty in India. It requests the government to augment government expenditure on public healthcare and ensure financial resources for the same.
The Panel recommends the government to increase its expenditure on health from 1.2 percent of the GDP to 2.5 percent by 2017 and to at least 3 percent by 2022. They say that even if we assume that combined public and private spending on health remains at the present 4.5 percent of the GDP, there will be a fivefold increase in Government per capita health expenditure from Rs670 at present to Rs3,432 by 2021-2022. The report also states that there will be simultaneous decline in private out-of-pocket expenditures from Rs 1,843 in 2011-12 to Rs 1,716 by 2021-22. It states that increased public expenditure will lead to a fall in proportion of private out of pocket expenditure on health from 73 percent to 33percent by 2021-22.
The panel states general taxation as the most viable source for mobilizing resources. It states that effective methods of taxation, increased tax payer base with a specific surcharge on salaries or taxable income to pay for UHC and offer cashless health care to all sections of the society will help to lay a strong financial base for the plan. It has called for ending the practice of levying healthcare services under the UHC.
The panel argues for dropping the user fee of all forms as a source for government revenue for funding public healthcare. K. Srinath Reddy, a renowned cardiologist has stated in his report to the Panel to increase government expenditure on healthcare as a measure to reduce poverty in the country.
