Mains- GS-2 Governance.

  1. A recent working paper shows that the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat program is associated with a 21% decline in out of pocket health expenditure and an 8% reduction in the tendency to borrow emergency loans for health purposes, among poor households.
  2. The Ayushman Bharat aims to cover nearly 10 crore households at the bottom of the income distribution — implementing it efficiently is challenging.
  3. A large number of beneficiary households are using health insurance instead of borrowing when faced with health emergencies.
  4. There has been a reduction in out-of-pocket expenditure relating to health insurance credibly indicating the effective programme implementation.
  5. Ayushman Bharat could improve human capital by increasing access to curative and preventive healthcare in the long run.

Impact: 

  1. Districts in which Ayushman Bharat is implemented, have experienced a reduction in out-of-pocket expenditure on health by about 1 %.
  2. In the adjoining districts that belong to States that did not implement Ayushman Bharat, there is a 20 % plus increase in out-of-pocket expenditure on health.
  3. Poor households in Ayushman Bharat implemented regions spent about 21 % less on health care than comparable households in non-implemented regions.
  4. It also reduced the probability of health emergency  borrowings by about 8 %.
  5. According to the National Family Health Survey, both health insurance coverage and the average health situation improved in Ayushman Bharat implemented districts when compared to their neighboring districts that did not implement the programme.