'MP trips on health insurance claims'

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh may not be a best place for medical treatment, but here's a shocker. MP ranks among one of the worst, when it comes to reimbursement of hospital expenditure. Only six per 1,000 patients receive part or full reimbursement in the state, according to latest report of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).
71st round of National Sample Survey (NSS), conducted from January to June 2014 reports that only one in 1,000 in rural areas and 15 per 1,000 cases in urban areas received reimbursement after hospitalisation.To pay for hospitalisation-every 1,000 people hospitalised in MP, 738 paid through salary and savings, 184 borrowed, 7 sold physical assets and 67 borrowed from friends or relatives.
Average total medical expenditure in Madhya Pradesh per hospitalisation stood at Rs 30,851 in urban areas and it cost Rs 18,696 in rural MP. Hospitalisation in MP cost around Rs 1,500 more than the national average. "The findings of NSSO highlight the need to increase insurance cover in Madhya Pradesh. More coverage by public funded insurance like Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) for those below poverty line is needed," said Jan Swasthya Abhiyan member and acclaimed health activist Amit Sengupta. Increasing trends of patients opting for private health care facility gives value to argument that government needs to invest more in public healthcare facilities, he said.
NSSO cites doctor's fee in rural MP accounted nearly 14.4% of medical expenditure, which was higher than the national average. Cost of medicine in urban Madhya Pradesh accounted for ¾ of the hospitalisation bill, higher than the national average.