40% less burden on the common man's pocket for treatment, Ayushman Bharat scheme is giving a lot of benefits
According to the National Health Accounts Estimates released by the Union Health Ministry, the government expenditure on health per capita has increased three times in 2021-22 as compared to 2014-15. Now the common man is having less burden from his pocket for treatment and Ayushman Bharat Yojana has also played an important role in this.
The burden on the average person's pocket (out-of-pocket expenditure) in treatment spending across the country has been reduced by approximately 40%. It has dropped to 39.4% in 2021-22, from 64.2% in 2013-14. The main reason for the reduction in the financial burden of treatment is an increase in government spending on health.
According to the National Health Accounts Estimates released by the Union Health Ministry, government expenditure on health per capita has increased three times in 2021-22 as compared to 2014-15.
A senior official of the Health Ministry said that the latest data clearly shows that compared to 2013-14, the common man is now less burdened from his pocket for treatment. At the same time, there was a 60% increase in government expenditure and it reached 48% in 2021-22 as compared to 29% in 2014-15.
According to Dr. PK Pal, a member of NITI Aayog, the facility of free and cashless treatment up to Rs 5 lakh annually to 55 crore people under the Ayushman Bharat scheme has played an important role in reducing the burden on the pocket. Under this scheme started six years ago, more than seven crore people have been given free treatment of more than Rs one lakh crore.
The free dialysis scheme provided substantial benefits to over 25 lakh beneficiaries in the year 2015-16. According to the figures, the per capita government expenditure on health went up from Rs 1108 in 2014-15 to Rs 3169 in 2021-22. This is because of an increase in expenditure on health as part of the total government expenditure. Where the government spent 3.94% of its total expenditure on health in 2014-15, it spent 6.12% of the total expenditure on the same in 2021-22.
This increase is also reflected in government expenditure on health in relation to the GDP. The total government expenditure on health, which stood at 1.13% of the GDP in 2014-15, rose to 1.84% in 2021-22. The reason for the rise in government expenditure on health basically because of the corona epidemic. During the Corona period, the government's expenditure on health increased by 16.6% in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 and 37% in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21.
