ABSTRACT
India has achieved important milestones due to sustained, planned efforts. While India’s total population is more than 16 percent of the total global population, it accounts for a large share of the global diseases. In fact, of the latter, a large incidence and prevalence of diseases in India, such as diarrhoeal diseases, TB, respiratory and parasitic infections, maternal conditions, nutritional deficiencies, diabetes, venereal diseases and HIV/AIDS cases, comprise a considerable chunk of diseases. Since the increase in the number of insured people will not result in adverse selection and moral hazard problems, there is a likelihood that, in due course, utilisation levels of health care facilities under the state sponsored schemes will stabilise to provide an incentive to insurers, through a reduced claim ratio. By contrast, the group and individual insurance coverage in numbers is only 16 and 7 percent, respectively.
