Description
Do Insurance-based Health Policies Benefit the Poor? The Indian Experience
Saloni (Assistant Professor of Sociology at K D G D College, University of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India) & Sushil Kumar (Contributes in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility in India since 2005)
The neoliberal economy has changed the shape and approach of health services the world over. In spite of well-meaning principles adopted in international fora such as the World Health Organization, wellness is no longer viewed as a fundamental basis of human development that the state is duty-bound to promote, but as a commodity which the consumers must buy according to their purchasing capacity. Of late, the health sector is more and more being linked with insurance sector and governments are becoming more than willing partners in this game.
This paper analyses the resultant situation with particular reference to India, a developing country with a vast population and a huge economy, and suggests ways for making it more inclusive and pro-poor.
