World's Largest Health Program for 50 Million Poorest Citizens: A Plan health in the 2018 budget for universal health coverage. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay It is great news for India that all Indians will be covered under a National Health Protection Scheme. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced 2 major initiatives in the Union Budget 2018 under the Ayushman Bharat Program (ABP). He announced a new flagship program for National Health Protection (NHPS). The program will provide health insurance coverage to the tune of INR 5 lakh per family per annum. This program will cover more than 10 million vulnerable families, i.e. more than 50 million beneficiaries. This year's budget actually surprised everyone. People were looking for personal gain in this budget but according to the announcement, this year's budget focused only on agriculture and health. The remaining changes are minimized and personal income taxes remain unchanged. India currently spends about 1% of its GDP on public healthcare, but is now planning to increase this to 2.5% by 2025. The Indian government currently provides Rs. 30,000 just for healthcare for poor families, but everyone knows that this sum is not enough to cover most medical procedures. According to Jaitley, his government is making steady progress towards the goal of universal health coverage. This program will take public healthcare to a new level of aspiration in the world's largest democracy and will be the largest healthcare plan ever implemented in the world. Arun Jaitley said that this initiative will help India's most vulnerable families access up to Rs. 5 lakh per annum for hospital cover. According to the budget announcement, this year will also focus on setting up new health and wellness centers everywhere. This priority “will bring healthcare closer to home.” According to Mr. Jaitley, a total of 1.5 lakh health and wellness centers will be set up. These centers will provide free essential medicines, diagnostic and laboratory services. Total Rs. 1200 million have been allocated for this. He also said it will take time to launch and implement the program. It has also been made clear in the budget that all the responsibilities are not on the shoulders of the central government; States will have to shoulder part of the financial burden. Officials indicated that they decided to do this to extend this broader health coverage over a broader term. According to Finance Secretary, Hasmukh Adhia “It will have a 60:40 ratio with states and will combine with the existing state scheme. Only with this term can we opt for insurance model or trust model” Remember: This is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay Mr. Hasmukh also said that it will take almost 6 months to be drafted elaborate the scheme and finalize the details. Although it has been decided that 10 crore families will be covered under the scheme, but in the first year it will not be possible to cover the total number of 10 crore. Mr. AN Jha promised that a total of 2000 crore, which was a symbolic amount in the budget. More money will be made available later.