Impact of RSBY on enrolled households: lessons from Gujarat

Smart Cards for All: Digitalisation of Universal Health Coverage in India

In less than ten years, India has launched colossal biometric databases. One among them is related to the first ‘free’ health coverage scheme offered by the government of India: the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY). Based on a public–private partnership between government and private companies, RSBY national scheme was launched in 2008, as a first step towards universal health coverage in a country where households endorse 70% of health expenses. The first phase of RSBY offers to cover ₹30,000 ($600) of inpatient expenses per year for five members of a below poverty line household and is now piloted in several Indian States to include outpatient expenses and above poverty line families too. RSBY relies exclusively on a centralised digital artefact to function, made visible by the ‘RSBY Smart Card’, a chip enabled plastic card containing personal data of individual and their family counting and conditioning the granting of health services to them; thus, no smart card means no health coverage. Till date 120 million Indians have been registered in the RSBY database. This article analyses how health accessibility is crafted under the RSBY scheme by questioning two central dimensions of this data-driven digital health scheme: the smart card technology and the public–private partnership, whereas RSBY scheme promises health coverage for all, its digital infrastructures may complicate access to health services, and reveal new patterns of exclusion of individuals. Thus, we will detail how smartcards technologies and private providers condition access to health care in India.

Examining the changing health care seeking behavior in the era of health sector reforms in India: evidences from the National Sample Surveys 2004 & 2014

Background

Health policy formulations in India have witnessed a shift from a reactive approach to a more proactive approach over the last decade. It is therefore important to understand the effectiveness of recent national health policies (such as the National Rural Health Mission and the National Urban Health Mission) in addressing the varied needs of the heterogeneous population of India.

Methods

We use datasets from the National Sample Surveys carried out in 2004 and 2014 to understand the change in the health seeking behavior as a result of these policies. The choice of health care facilities and the associated expenditures are compared through descriptive analyses. A multinomial logistic regression is used to identify the significant parameters which contribute towards the share of health care providers in India. The health status of two economically disparate Indian states (Bihar and Kerala) are also compared through specific metrics of performance.

Results

It is seen that due to increased availability of facilities in close proximity, both rural and urban residents prefer to avail of those facilities which will result in minimization of transportation cost. The effectiveness of national health policies is found to vary on a regional scale. Literacy and health status have a strong correlation, thereby reinforcing that Bihar still lags far behind Kerala in terms of access to equitable health care.

Conclusion

Therefore, a hierarchical system, incorporating medical pluralism and tailor-made policies targeted at diverse health care demands, needs to be put in place to achieve Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals as decreed by the United Nations, i.e., "health for all".