Analysis of Health Insurance Interventions for Women in Mewat Haryana A Study in Context of Achievement of Universal Health Coverage UHC

Abstract

The present study is aimed to analyse health and health insurance interventions in women in Mewat, Haryana. The women mostly belonged to below poverty line (BPL) and the study was conducted in the context of universal health coverage. newlineUnited Nations, in 2019, conducted a high-level meeting in which 193 countries participated, including India, where a unanimous affirmation was made about their strong political commitment to the achievement of universal health coverage (UHC) which means provision of quality health services for all individuals without suffering financial hardship. Therefore, achievement of UHC depends on a health system that is geographically and financially accessible, and culturally appropriate besides also having adequate and quality human resources and infrastructure. In simpler terms UHC aims at Health for all and health insurance is an important tool for the achievement of UHC. newline India is a vast and most populated country in the world. It is multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-lingual and despite its huge economic strides, is still a developing nation. It has a mixed health system, that includes on the one hand a large public sector which suffers from many challenges especially low funding, and on the other hand, a rapidly growing, unregulated, and heterogeneous private sector. According to the National Sample Survey (NSS) 12% Indians have unmet health needs as they suffer from inability to afford healthcare especially because of financial inaccessibility which is a hindrance to UHC in India where healthcare is primarily financed by multiple sources such as domestic government sources, private sources etc. Out of pocket expenditure or OOPE, is found to be a major source of health financing in the country and contributes towards impoverishment or financial shock of people, forcing them to cut down on essential subsistence costs such as food and clothing. OOPE also contributes to low levels of health service utilization as people tend to avoid using unaffordable services.