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Implementing health insurance: the rollout of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana in Karnataka

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 23:42 authored by D Rajasekhar, Erlend Berg, Maitressh Ghatak, R Manjula, Sanchari Roy
The National Health Insurance Scheme - Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana - aims to improve poor people's access to quality healthcare. This paper looks at the implementation of the scheme in Karnataka, drawing on a large survey of eligible households and interviews with empanelled hospitals in the state. Six months after initiation in early 2010, an impressive 85% of eligible households in the sample were aware of the scheme, and 68% had been enrolled. However, the scheme was hardly operational and utilisation was virtually zero. A large proportion of beneficiaries were yet to receive their cards, and many did not know how and where to obtain treatment under the scheme. Moreover, hospitals were not ready to treat RSBY patients. Surveyed hospitals complained of a lack of training and delays in the reimbursement of their expenses. Many were refusing to treat patients until the issues were resolved, and others were asking cardholders to pay cash. As is typical for the implementation of a government scheme, many of the problems can be related to a misalignment of incentives.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Economic and Political Weekly

ISSN

0012-9976

Publisher

Economic and Political Weekly

Issue

20

Volume

46

Page range

56-63

Department affiliated with

  • Economics Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2015-12-08

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