The government will unveil its budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year on Friday. People in the country have high hopes from this upcoming budget. However, people will be keeping their eye on health budget. Recently Modi government launched Ayushman Bharat scheme which provides health insurance to people below poverty line. So it is expected that government can increase the budget of its health schemes or introduce new schemes for all.
So here the things which we can expect in 2019-2020 Health budget.
1.Total health budget
Health budget in 2018 was Rs 52, 800 thousand crore which is 2.16 per cent of total budget
Expectation from the interim budget 2019: The healthcare budget allocation may rise by 5 percent this year.
2.Health insurance
Currently, health insurance falls under the 18% GST slab. According to Money Control, only 20 per cent of Indians have health insurance.
Expectation from the interim budget 2019: Can lower GST rate to 12 percent from 18 percent on health insurance premium, so if it’s reduce than more people can opt for health insurance.
3. OPDProducts
18% GST rate is applicable on products providing outpatient coverage, which increases the treatment cost, according to Money Control.
Expectation from the interim budget 2019: Can bring GST rate on products providing outpatient coverage to 5% and make it convenient for people to seek medical treatment.
4. Ayushman Bharat
Ayushman Bharat provides Rs 5 lakh to 500 million people and Rs 2000 crore was allocated by Government in 2018 budget.
Expectation from the interim budget 2019: More schemes like Ayushman Bharat can be introduced or the budget of Ayushman Bharat can be increased. The finance ministry may also announce initiatives to strengthen trauma and emergency care in public and private sectors.
5. Health and Wellness Centres
Currently government has approved 15,000 health and wellness centres across the country which apart from providing comprehensive healthcare services, also provides free essential drugs, according to CNBC TV 18.
Expectation from the interim budget 2019: The centre can plan to start an additional 5,000-10,000 centres by next year.
6. Generic Medicines
At the end of 2018, there were 4,677 stores rolled out with over 800 generic medicines available, according to CNBC TV 18.
Expectation from the interim budget 2019: The government could announce plans to roll out 1,000-1,500 such stores in 2019.
Government is providing extra 600 crore for TB patients for nutrition. Per person allocation is Rs 500 per month under this scheme.
Expectation from the interim budget 2019: Government can increase the budget for TB patients.
7. Sanitation
Under ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ mission government had already constructed more than 6 crore toilets, according to NDTV report.
Expectation: Government may plan to construct around 2 crore more toilets.
Here’s what Industry experts expect from health budget
According to Shreeraj Deshpande, Principal Officer at Future Generali India Insurance told the Financial Express, “Medical inflation is growing at 14-16 per cent every year and the healthcare expenses of the average household can easily exceed the medical allowance limit. Each year during the pre-budget time, the Indian healthcare industry focuses on the one statistic that refuses to change: government spending money on healthcare stays put at around 1 per cent of the GDP. The healthcare sector can only get affordable if the government revises this upwards.”
“The major reason for the low penetration of health insurance is because it is currently optional. While the Government has taken laudable steps to introduce a health insurance scheme for weaker section with PM-JAY, it is requested that the Government could also explore making health insurance coverage mandatory for all citizens,” said Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Secretary General, NATHEALTH to EHealth online
“Priority Sector status to healthcare will help in the process of enabling development of innovative long-term financing structures for healthcare providers apart from creating an attractive environment for domestic production of medical equipment, devices and consumables while also catalysing research and development,” added Bhattacharya.
Dr KK Aggarwal, President of Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI), said to Ehealth Online, “We hope that the budget this year will place more focus on Ayushman Bharat by creating benefits under the scheme addressing people who are not covered yet but eligible and also cover additional 10 percent given reservations form upper class.”
“The government should ensure 100 percent universal insurance coverage in the country. Another aspect that needs attention is the provision of enough subsidies for Ayushman only hospitals wanting to become a part of the scheme,” he further added.