The state government spending on its flagship healthcare scheme Himcare has seen a massive rise in the past two years. As per official data, spending on the scheme surged almost five times to Rs 464 crore in 2023-24 compared to just Rs 97 crore spent two years ago in 2021-22.
Himcare, which provides cashless treatment up to Rs 5 lakh per annum to families in empanelled hospitals, witnessed a mammoth seven-fold increase in beneficiaries during this period. The number of enrolled families covered under the scheme jumped to 8.53 lakh in the current fiscal from just 5.73 lakh families in 2021-22.
Interestingly, despite the huge rise in number of Himcare cardholders, the premium collection amount registered by the state administration has remained largely stagnant. For the current fiscal, only Rs 13 crore was collected as premium from 8.53 lakh enrolled families. This is almost similar to the Rs 12 crore collected as premium in 2018-19 when the scheme had just 1.21 lakh beneficiaries enrolled.
Two key decisions taken by the previous BJP government in April 2022 are widely considered to have played a major role in escalating the expenditure burden of the scheme. Allowing issuance of Himcare cards throughout the year instead of a limited window and extending the card validity period to three years with a single time premium payment are said to have distorted the scheme dynamics.
While the sharp increase in spending has raised sustainability concerns, former Health Minister Rajiv Saizal maintains that providing universal healthcare access to citizens should remain the topmost priority. He argues that an annual expenditure of around Rs 500 crore for this purpose is very nominal considering the larger societal benefits accrued through such welfare measures. It now remains to be seen what policy tweaks are implemented to balance the scheme viability with service delivery obligations.
