An Extraordinary Experiment Attempts to
Deliver Decent Quality Healthcare to the Masses
“The Prime
Minister’s People’s Healthcare Plan, as Modicare’s official name translates
from Hindi, provides about 500,000 rupees ($7,000) in annual hospital coverage
to 107 million families, their eligibility determined by the primary
breadwinner’s occupation.
Critics have urged
Modi to put the money into India’s shaky system of free public hospitals, but
he argues that the country is better off relying on what’s already in many
respects a world-class private health-care industry and that the government
can’t afford to build enough facilities itself. Modi is trying to contain one
of Asia’s widest budget deficits, and he’s allocated the equivalent of only
$900 million for Modicare in the coming fiscal year. (Costs are generally split
60-40 between Delhi and the states.)”