Health Care Utilization and Out-of-Pocket Expenditure by Older Persons in India

Sanjay Kumar, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Jaydeep Biswas, Chief, Policy and Partnerships, UNFPA
Singh Shivendra, UNFPA

The older persons are living longer, and it is important to ensure that they lead a healthy. Health is the single most important determinant of the quality of life. The utilization of health care services is equally important which is governed by many factors. With advancing age, ill health becomes a major hindrance for the well-being of older persons. The National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE) provides accessible, affordable and high-quality long-term care services to the older persons in India. The Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Scheme is one of the largest government-funded health insurance schemes, launched in 2018. In 2024, this is expanded to cover all senior citizens aged 70 years and above, regardless of their income level. The study aims to examine healthcare expenditure by type of disease, health care facility, and economic strata of older persons, especially among 70+ years using LASI data. The mean expenditure for hospitalization is much higher for the richer older persons, however, older persons from the bottom forty percentile quintile of MPCE also had to spend Rs. 27,111 in private facilities. Moreover, it is even higher than the richer older persons incurring hospitalization in a public health facility.

Keywords: Population Ageing, Health and Morbidity

See extended abstract.