Giving Compass' Take:

• The National Health Protection Scheme will help Indians' health and financial well-being. however, the success of the policy will depend on exactly how it functions. 

• How can the policy best serve the Indian people? How can other countries enact or improve their healthcare policies? 

• Learn how the Christensen Institute defines quality healthcare and innovation.

India recently announced an ambitious plan called the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) to provide government-sponsored insurance to roughly 500 million people or nearly 40% of India’s population. Since the announcement, there has been much debate about two issues. First, does this plan make sense? Second, if it is a good idea, what should the design of NHPS look like?

So, is the NHPS a good idea? Definitely yes. There are several reasons. First, India under-invests in the healthcare of its citizens and this is affecting the health and financial well-being of Indians.

Second, while not all insurance programmes are successful, there is sufficient evidence that if implemented well, insurance can save lives and improve financial well-being.

Third, existing evidence shows that providing insurance to the poor not only saves lives but is also “cost-effective”. That is, it provides good value for money as the benefits of insurance far outweigh the costs.

Now that we have established that NHPS is likely a step in the right direction, how do we ensure that the programme is a success? The devil is in the detail: we need to pay attention to both the design of NHPS and its implementation.

Read the full article on the National Health Protection Scheme by Shamika Ravi and Neeraj Sood at Livemint.