Performance of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in India: Implications for its functional sustainability

Dr. Paramita Roy

Volume : VII, Issue : XI, November - 2018

Performance of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in India: Implications for its functional sustainability

Dr. Paramita Roy

Abstract :

Medical expenditure on healthcare, particularly the sudden and lump sum hospitalization expenses pose a continuous threat to the poorer families. It is difficult to keep a provision for such expenditure beforehand because of the unpredictability of the amount of expenditures and of the timing of occurrence. The increase in prices of drugs adds on to the medical burden of a family. The hospitalization can also cause severe difficulties to poor patients in the lean period of their earnings as most of them do not have a regular job and work in the informal sectors or as casual workers. This paper analyses the functional viability of the scheme based on the data given in the RSBY website for each state in India. The design is descriptive and the analysis is quantitative. For each state the districts are arranged according to their geographical location, per capita GDP earnings and total population. The performance of the districts is analyzed on different variables like total targeted families, total enrolled families, the number of private and public hospitals enrolled etc.The findings show a wide difference among the different states in India. The inclusion of the private healthcare beneficiaries is significantly correlated. However literacy of the prospective beneficiaries is seen to be an important in making the scheme more inclusive