What Makes Arun Jaitley's Just Announced 'Modicare' Different From Obamacare

New Delhi: This has got to be one of the biggest announcements in this year’s Union Budget. In Modi government’s last pre-poll budget, Jaitley announced two new initiatives under the Ayushman Bharat Program.

First, he announced a new Flagship National Health Protection Scheme, providing health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year. The scheme will cover 10 crore vulnerable families, with approximately 50 crore beneficiaries.

Describing it as the “world’s largest healthcare programme”, the Finance Minister said, “We are slowly progressing towards universal health coverage.”

The Prime Minister, too, tweeted about it.

We are now launching a flagship national health protection scheme that will cover 10 crore families. They will be provided upto Rs. 5 lakh. This is one of the largest healthcare programmes in the world: FM @arunjaitley #NewIndiaBudget https://t.co/XoU3iHccE3

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 1, 2018

Jaitley also announced the creation of health and wellness centres, which, he said, will “bring healthcare closer to home”. These centres, 1.5 lakh in number, will provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services. Rs 1200 crores have been allocated for this.

Within minutes of the announcement, people on social media started comparing it to Obamacare and in turn, termed it ‘Modicare’.

The health budget. (Image: News18 Creative)

So, how does this ‘Modicare’ compare with Obamacare? Let’s take a look.

Obamacare originally called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is a set of health insurance and industry reforms passed by Congress and signed by former United States President Barack Obama in March 2010.

The idea was to expand access to health insurance and change the way the federal government pays doctors. When it was launched, the federal budget forecasters expected that 25 million people, that is 2.5 crores, will gain health coverage because of Obamacare. The Modi government’s aim is way higher. It promises to give health coverage to 50 crore people.

While the Obamacare hoped to extend health insurance coverage to some of the estimated 15% of the US population who lack it, ‘Modicare’ aims to cover 37% of the Indian population.

The Obamacare had significantly increased the number of people with health insurance coverage by overhauling the individual insurance market — where people buy their own policies — and expanding Medicaid, a public program that covers low-income Americans.

However, the Obamacare is way more than just health insurance coverage.

The law not only affects hospitals and doctors, but also restaurants and even ice cream parlors (which, because of Obamacare, are required to post calorie listings on their menus).

The Act also included policies that change the way doctors get paid, with the aim of slowing the ever-growing cost of health care. There wasn’t any mention of how the Indian government wants to pay doctors. And let’s not forget, it continues to be one of the biggest crisis in the country. The government hospitals in our country do not have enough doctors, and the patient to doctor ratio is abysmal.

The Obamacare law also bans insurance companies from denying health coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions, allows young people to remain on their parents' plans until age 26, and expands eligibility for the government-run Medicaid. However, India’s ‘health protection scheme’ didn’t mention any of this.