India’s proposed universal health coverage policy: Evidence and implications for age structure transition effects and fiscal sustainability (Muttur Ranganathan Narayana)
Health expenditure is predominantly private in India, paid for by households. In 2009, India’s National Health Accounts showed that private health expenditure was 78.5 percent of the total health expenditure of INR133.77 billion. Household health expenditure was 71.1 percent of total health expenditure and 91.1 percent of total private health expenditure. Total health expenditure was 4.3 percent of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with private health expenditure accounting for 3.4 percent of GDP and public health expenditure accounting for less than 1 percent. India’s share of public expenditure in the total expenditure on health, at 21.5 percent, was lower than in China (where the public share was 38.8 percent), Malaysia (at 44.8 percent), Indonesia (at 46.6 percent), Sri Lanka (at 46.2 percent), Bangladesh (at 29.1 percent), and Nepal (at 28.1 percent).