# India attempts to expand health care to the poor **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 17, 2018, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-attempts-to-expand-health-care-to-the-poor/819805 "2018-08-17T19:54:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-attempts-to-expand-health-care-to-the-poor/819805/1 "2018-08-17T19:54:19Z")
> **[India Aims For The World's Biggest Health Care Overhaul](https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/08/14/638187029/india-aims-for-the-worlds-biggest-health-care-overhaul)** > > Posh private hospitals give world-class care — and serve lattes. At government facilities, cancer patients sleep on the sidewalk. But the prime minister has a plan to help the poor. > [@](#): > > Modi, who is running for re-election, wants to fix that. His campaign includes a plan called Ayushman Bharat, or the National Health Protection Mission, which would offer the poorest half of India – more than 500 million people — health insurance to apply toward private hospitals. Each family would get more than $7,200 in annual coverage. Granted, $7200 in coverage a year is nothing in the United states. But in India that’ll probably cover a major surgery. Plus I believe India manufactures patented medications at a much lower cost, so $7200 can go a long way when it comes to expanding access to pharmaceuticals and surgery to the poor. I’m glad to see India do this. I thought China set out to create something like a UHC system a few years ago but I’m not sure how far they got. Also funding for this program seems very very low. Its under $2 billion, which is less than $4 a year per patient. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-attempts-to-expand-health-care-to-the-poor/819805/2 "2018-08-17T20:49:16Z")
It will be a little amusing but also a little sad if even India manages to implement universal healthcare before the US does. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-attempts-to-expand-health-care-to-the-poor/819805/3 "2018-08-17T21:01:44Z")
Mexico implemented universal health care recently. > **[Mexico achieves universal health coverage, enrolls 52.6 million people in...](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/mexico-universal-health/)** > > August 15, 2012 — Despite periods of economic downturns and crisis, Mexico recently achieved a significant milestone – enrolling 52.6 million previously uninsured Mexicans in public medical i… Pretty much every middle income or high income nation that is halfway democratic implements UHC. Except the US of course. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-attempts-to-expand-health-care-to-the-poor/819805/4 "2018-08-18T03:41:03Z")
It is a decent initiative but remains to be seen how well it is implemented. Healthcare costs are fairly low in India, even given the greed of private hospitals for profits. My mother used to get dialysis for under $20 a session, including consumables. This rate was actually profitable for the hospital. They even used to serve her tea and light refreshments. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-attempts-to-expand-health-care-to-the-poor/819805/5 "2018-08-18T03:47:00Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > It is a decent initiative but remains to be seen how well it is implemented. Healthcare costs are fairly low in India, even given the greed of private hospitals for profits. My mother used to get dialysis for under $20 a session, including consumables. This rate was actually profitable for the hospital. They even used to serve her tea and light refreshments. I mentioned in the OP, the plan costs less than 2 billion but will cover 500 million people. That is only $4 per person per year. I’m not sure how that is going to work. It says $7200 in coverage for a family which would go a pretty long way in India. That could cover several prescriptions and probably a surgery or two for an Indian family per year. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-attempts-to-expand-health-care-to-the-poor/819805/6 "2018-08-19T05:09:24Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I mentioned in the OP, the plan costs less than 2 billion but will cover 500 million people. That is only $4 per person per year. I’m not sure how that is going to work. > > It says $7200 in coverage for a family which would go a pretty long way in India. That could cover several prescriptions and probably a surgery or two for an Indian family per year. The initial allocation will be expanded as the scheme enrols more people. At least that’s how government-run schemes usually work over here. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-attempts-to-expand-health-care-to-the-poor/819805/7 "2018-08-19T09:51:30Z")
Go India…make it work and show the US how it can be done. 🙂