Research Conducted at School of Public Health Has Provided New Information about Health Insurance (A composite indicator to measure universal health…

Research Conducted at School of Public Health Has Provided New Information about Health Insurance (A composite indicator to measure universal health care coverage in India: way forward for post-2015 health system performance monitoring framework)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Fresh data on Health Insurance are presented in a new report. According to news originating from Chandigarh, India, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "There is limited work done on developing methods for measurement of universal health coverage. We undertook a study to develop a methodology and demonstrate the practical application of empirically measuring the extent of universal health coverage at district level."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the School of Public Health, "Additionally, we also develop a composite indicator to measure UHC. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken among 51 656 households across 21 districts of Haryana state in India. Using the WHO framework for UHC, we identified indicators of service coverage, financial risk protection, equity and quality based on the Government of India and the Haryana Government's proposed UHC benefit package. Geometric mean approach was used to compute a composite UHC index (CUHCI). Various statistical approaches to aggregate input indicators with or without weighting, along with various incremental combinations of input indicators were tested in a comprehensive sensitivity analysis. The population coverage for preventive and curative services is presented. Adjusting for inequality, the coverage for all the indicators were less than the unadjusted coverage by 0.1-6.7% in absolute term and 0.1-27% in relative term. There was low unmet need for curative care. However, about 11% outpatient consultations were from unqualified providers. About 30% households incurred catastrophic health expenditures, which rose to 38% among the poorest 20% population. Summary index (CUHCI) for UHC varied from 12% in Mewat district to 71% in Kurukshetra district. The inequality unadjusted coverage for UHC correlates highly with adjusted coverage. Our paper is an attempt to develop a methodology to measure UHC. However, careful inclusion of others indicators of service coverage is recommended for a comprehensive measurement which captures the spirit of universality."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Further, more work needs to be done to incorporate quality in the measurement framework."

For more information on this research see: A composite indicator to measure universal health care coverage in India: way forward for post-2015 health system performance monitoring framework. Health Policy and Planning, 2017;32(1):43-56. Health Policy and Planning can be contacted at: Oxford Univ Press, Great Clarendon St, Oxford OX2 6DP, England. (Oxford University Press - www.oup.com/; Health Policy and Planning - heapol.oxfordjournals.org)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from S. Prinja, Post Grad Inst Med Educ & Res, Sch Public Hlth, Chandigarh 160012, India. Additional authors for this research include R. Gupta, P. Bahuguna, A. Sharma, A.K. Aggarwal, A. Phogat and R. Kumar (see also Health Insurance).

Keywords for this news article include: Chandigarh, India, Asia, Health Insurance, India, School of Public Health.

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