An Investigation into the Implementation Approaches of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana in Four South Indian States

Abstract

The majority of India’s overall health expenses are incurred through out-of-pocket spending, and the country’s national health policies are aimed at reducing out-of-pocket expenditure in order to achieve universal health coverage and provide access to healthcare services for all. In such context, Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, the largest health insurance programme, was launched in 2018 with theview of providinghealthcare coverage of Rs.5,00,000 per household per year. The financial support for secondary and tertiary healthcare services offered by both public and private empaneled providers is supplied to India’s underprivileged households. There are three different models used for implementing the scheme, and the states choose a model with their own state insurance schemes to execute PM-JAY. In order to monitor the implementation in each state, State Health Agencies (SHA) have been set up and have been assigned to monitor all the operations related to the scheme. Funds for the scheme are distributed to the SHAs jointly by the central and state governments. The present study aims to analyse the mode of implementation by the share of private and public hospitals empaneled in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu by using secondary data sources from government websites, reports, and data repositories.