National Health Accounts FY2022-23: Government Health Expenditure Triples, OOPE Declines to 39.4%
Summary
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released the 10th edition of National Health Accounts (NHA) Estimates for FY 2022-23, prepared by the National Health Accounts Technical Secretariat (NHATS) under the NHSRC. Government Health Expenditure (GHE) has tripled from ₹1.30 lakh crore in 2013-14 to ₹3.85 lakh crore in 2022-23, with GHE as a share of GDP rising from 1.15% to 1.43%. Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE) as a share of Total Health Expenditure (THE) declined from 64.2% in 2013-14 to 39.4% in 2022-23.
●Despite progress, India remains below the National Health Policy 2017 target of 2.5% of GDP in government health spending.
Health & Medical Science
This sub-topic has appeared in 7 UPSC Prelims questions.
The National Health Accounts (NHA) Estimates are prepared annually by the National Health Accounts Technical Secretariat (NHATS) under the National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC), which functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
●The methodology follows the System of Health Accounts (SHA) 2011 framework developed by WHO and OECD. The FY 2022-23 edition is the 10th in the series (started 2013-14). Key numbers: GHE tripled from ₹1.30 lakh crore to ₹3.85 lakh crore; per capita GHE rose from ₹1,042 to ₹2,786 (2.7x); primary healthcare expenditure more than doubled from ₹0.5 lakh crore to ₹1.4 lakh crore.
●OOPE as share of THE fell from 64.2% (2013-14) to 39.4% (2022-23). India's National Health Policy 2017 target: GHE at 2.5% of GDP by 2025.
●Actual in FY23: 1.43% of GDP — still well short of target.
The OOPE decline is the single most watched NHA indicator — it measures financial protection for households. At 39.4%, India's OOPE remains higher than the WHO benchmark of 15–20% above which health spending becomes 'catastrophic' for vulnerable households.
Factual Pointers
Practice · 2 questions
Consider the following statements about the National Health Accounts (NHA) estimates for India:
1. NHA estimates are prepared by the National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
2. The NHA methodology follows the System of Health Accounts (SHA) 2011 framework developed by WHO and OECD.
3. India's National Health Policy 2017 targeted Government Health Expenditure at 2.5% of GDP by 2025, which was achieved as per the FY 2022-23 NHA estimates.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Consider the following statements about Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE) in India's health financing:
1. OOPE refers to direct payments made by households for healthcare at the time of treatment, excluding any reimbursement.
2. India's OOPE as a share of Total Health Expenditure declined from 64.2% in 2013-14 to 39.4% in 2022-23.
3. The WHO benchmark suggests that OOPE above 30% of Total Health Expenditure leads to catastrophic health spending.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
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