Finances for Health in India: Are New Sources the Way to Go?

The Government of India has proposed the National Health Assurance Mission (NHAM) to move the country rapidly towards universal health coverage (UHC), by providing all citizens with specified drugs, diagnostics, and services. Currently, India's public spending on health is one of the lowest in the world. Recent pronouncements from the government indicate a further cut in the health budget, indicating a serious discrepancy between policy intentions and necessary financial provisions. Against this backdrop, this paper offers two broad options to enhance fiscal space for health in India: (a) superior utilisation of the existing resource envelope through reprioritisation and reallocation within the social sector, including pooling of fragmented allocations; and (b) identification of new revenue handles for the health sector and choice of the most sustainable of these.