In News: As a share of total health expenditure, the OOPE has come down to 48.8% in 2017-18 from 64.2% in 2013-14. Even in the case of per capita OOPE, there has been a decline from ₹2,336 to ₹2,097 between 2013-14 and 2017-18.
One of the factors attributing to this decline is the increase in utilisation and reduction in cost of services in Government health facilities.
If we compare National Health Accounts (NHA) 2014-15 and 2017-18, there has been a decline in OOPE for Government hospitals to the tune of 50%.
Did government measures help in reduction of OOPE?
The NHA estimates for 2017-18 clearly showed that there had been an increase in the share of Government health expenditure in the total GDP of the country.
It has increased from 1.15% in 2013-14 to 1.35% in 2017-18. Additionally, the share of Government Health Expenditure in total health expenditure has also increased over time.
In 2017-18, the share of Government expenditure was 40.8%, which is much higher than 28.6% in 2013-14.
The report further indicates that in per capita terms, the Government health expenditure has increased from ₹1,042 to ₹1,753 between 2013-14 to 2017-18.
