Out-of-pocket health expenditure declined to 39.4 per cent in 2021-22: NITI Aayog

New Delhi| There has been a significant decline in out-of-pocket health expenditure in recent years. This fell to 39.4 percent in 2021-22, from 64.2 percent in 2013-14. This information was given by Dr. VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog.

Releasing the Union Health Ministry’s 2020-21 and 2021-22 National Health Account (NHA) estimates, Paul said the reduction in out-of-pocket expenditure on health is a positive sign. “Ayushman Bharat PMJAY has resulted in savings of over Rs 1 lakh crore and has had a positive impact on recent NHA estimates”, he continued. Apart from this, he said that 25 lakh people have benefited from the scheme like Free Dialysis launched in 2015-16.

Describing the decline in out-of-pocket health expenditure as a positive sign, Union Health Secretary Apoorva Chandra said that during this period, the health expenditure incurred by the government has also increased significantly. Chandra further said that this shows that the government is emphasizing on health services. The NHA’s 2021-22 projections show that the government’s spending on health services has increased.

According to the data, the government’s spending on health (GHE) stood at 1.84 per cent of GDP in 2021-22, up from 1.13 per cent in 2014-15. Also its share of general government spending (GGE) has increased to 6.12 percent in 2021-22, up from 3.94 percent in 2014-15. The data reported that government spending on health had increased by 16.6 per cent between 2019-20 and 2020-21 and by 37 per cent between 2020-21 and 2021-22.

GHE’s share of total health spending in the country has increased to 48 percent in 2021-22, up from 29 percent in 2014-15. During this period, the share of out-of-pocket expenditure has decreased from 62.6 per cent to 39.4 per cent.