Out-of-pocket Health Spending and Its Impact on Household Well-being in Maharashtra

Abstract

Health is one of the major determinants of the overall well-being of a society. The World Health Organization has emphasised the right to health for all, and the universal health coverage is a paradigm of this emphasis with an agenda of nobody to be left behind in the provision of health services without any financial burden by 2030.This article tries to analyse the extent of catastrophic expenditure being incurred by the people despite being sheltered under a financial protection (Health Insurance) in the state of Maharashtra. The impact caused by out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditure on the economic status of the people in the state is assessed using the National Sample Survey Office’s 71st round conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. It was found that over 4.18% of the population endured the burden caused by OOP expenditure by falling below the poverty line post health payments. A higher proportion of rural population is observed to have experienced a fall in the economic status from above poverty line (APL) to below poverty line (BPL) due to high OOP expenditure than that of the urban population in Maharashtra.