Ayushman Bharat healthcare, or Modicare, is a highly ambitious program that can literally change the shape of Indian economy. I mean, imagine 100 million people health insured by up to Rs 5 lakh (per family) – and not just in failing and congested government hospitals but also for treatments in private institutes. That almost sounds like a fairy-tale. And it’s happening in India. Incredible!
But, here comes the ‘BUT’ now.
In India, we already have many similar schemes like Ayushman Bharat, both on national (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna) and state level. The biggest problem of such schemes is their execution. Time and again we have seen, with great vision and aspiration, such schemes are launched to much of the hype in the mainstream media. However, down the line, this hype eventually gets faded in the mix of bureaucracy, red-tape and wide-spanning corruption on literally every stage of the system. The benefit never reaches the end population for who such schemes are meant for.
Ayushman Bharat healthcare covers 100 million beneficiaries across 28 states and all union territories. It will cost the government some Rs 16,717 crore annually. The sheer largeness of this scheme is unfathomable and deserves big applause. But do you really think this INR 16 thousand crores will be carried forward to the end beneficiaries?
Many of Modi government’s schemes have never really got allotted the announced amount. (Unless it matters Ganga and Gaus!) If we go by that track record, Modicare will fall flat in getting even 10 percent of the announced $1.7 billion. Now moving on, the officials and bureaucrats who will be handling the entire scheme, even under Indu Bhusan, who has a great track record, will keep a large sum of this amount in their own pockets. We aren’t digital yet and we still lack transparency in the system. From there, the lower level officials will deservingly (sense sarcasm here) keep their own part. In the end, the beneficiary will be literally left with nothing more than frustration to encash on this healthcare scheme.
Now note: I am well aware that this scheme will ensure direct benefit to the beneficiary with very few intermediaries. Yet still, I have my doubts on the entire functioning of this framework. Then the end beneficiary will have to do rounds to government officials and make countless calls to ensure she/he gets the insured amount. Moving along, another major challenge here is to actually educate people about this insurance. In a country where more than 70 percent of the population doesn’t have any kind of insurance, it’s hard to inform and educate them about such scheme that almost sounds too good to be true.
Nonetheless, I love the Ayushman Bharat healthcare scheme. I think it could be a game-changer for India. BUT I have my doubts. While the target beneficiary is supposed to be 100 million Indians, with poor implementation, it might very well end up that only a couple thousand people are really getting benefits.
