On Hospitalisation Insurance

On Hospitalisation Insurance Alex George RECENT research has shown clearly that 75 per cent of the per capita health expenditure in our country is borne by the people themselves [Berman 1995] as what is terminologically nomenclatured as household health expenditure, out pocket expenses and sometimes even private (!) health expenditure. Having arrived at that figure the thinking in policy-making circles, proceeds in two directions. One line of thinking sees in this the capacity of the people to pay for health care, and goes about building up a case for privatisation of health care and the introduction of user charges in one or the other form. The other sees this spending by the people as far too high compared to several other countries [Abel-Smith 1995] and gets concerned about the fact that the people have no other way but to mortgage or sell their meagre family property or jewellery or take loans when they are confronted with serious health problems. T N Krishnan who had been initiating a cumpaign for the introduction of a state funded scheme of hospitalisation insurance towards the last part of his life belonged to the latter category. This note is a rather belated comment on Krishnan's article 'Hospitalisation Insurance: A