Increasing health spend to 3% can halve out-of-pocket expenses: Eco Survey

The survey said the focus must be on building the health care system generally rather than a specific focus on communicable diseases

Health care is finally taking centre stage owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Economic Survey said, while calling for increased spending to prepare for the next health crisis, which could be drastically different from Covid-19. It also batted for setting up a sectoral regulator.

The survey estimated that an increase in health spend from 1 per cent to 2.5-3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) can decrease the out-of-pocket expenditure from 65 per cent to 30 per cent of the overall health care spend.

“From a financial perspective, India has one of the highest levels of out-of-pocket expenditures in the world,