With an emphasis on accessibility and cost, the Union Budget 2025 takes substantial initiatives to increase healthcare and insurance coverage in India. Some important steps include making Ayushman Bharat available to gig workers, allocating more funds to the health sector, removing customs duties from essential medications, and improving opportunities for medical education. Cancer care facilities and workforce development are also prioritised in the budget. Expanded coverage, public-private partnerships, cost regulation, and heightened awareness are necessary to achieve universal healthcare insurance, but these measures do represent progress.
Introduction
With an ageing population, high medical expenses, and the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases, the healthcare industry in India has been facing mounting pressure. Numerous individuals are still at risk because they do not have enough health insurance, even though programmes like Ayushman Bharat have greatly improved access to healthcare.
Revitalised support for national health insurance is a central theme of Union Budget 2025. This year’s budget seeks to fill important deficiencies in India’s healthcare system by enhancing affordability, increasing access, and augmenting healthcare infrastructure. The budget included several important statements concerning a health insurance plan and overall healthcare. This blog examines those announcements and their effects on the population.
Key Healthcare and Insurance Measures in Union Budget 2025
Given below are some of the key highlights concerning healthcare and insurance in the Union Budget 2025:
1. Expanding Ayushman Bharat: Inclusion of Gig Workers
Workers in the food delivery, e-commerce, and ride-hailing industries are among the millions who have found employment in the rapidly expanding gig economy. Even though their work involves many risks, most gig workers don’t have health insurance, critical illness insurance, or other official perks from their jobs.
As a solution, the government has expanded the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) to include around one crore gig workers. To guarantee that these workers may access healthcare services under PM-JAY, they will immediately be issued identification cards and registered on the e-Shram portal. Workers in the gig economy and their families stand to gain significantly from this change, which will hopefully lead to lower out-of-pocket healthcare costs and improved access to high-quality medical treatment.
2. Enhanced Allocation for the Health Sector
Notable in the budget is the provision of ₹99,858.56 crore to the health sector, which represents a 9.78% rise over the previous year. With this additional support, the aim is to do the following:
- Improve healthcare services within urban and rural locations
- Increase insurance coverage for underserved groups
- Reinforce main and secondary healthcare infrastructure
The government hopes that by increasing healthcare funding, it can build a stronger system that can better respond to public health emergencies and expand access to healthcare for more people.
3. Exemption of Customs Duty on Life-Saving Drugs
For many Indian families, the financial burden of critical sickness medical bills, such as cancer or uncommon disorders, can be overwhelming. A total of 36 essential medications, including those for the treatment of cancer and uncommon genetic disorders, will no longer be subject to customs duties, according to a government announcement.
4. Expansion of Medical Education and Healthcare Workforce
When it comes to healthcare, one of the biggest problems is the lack of qualified doctors and nurses. This is why the budget allocated an additional 10,000 seats in medical schools and hospitals. This will help reach the goal of adding 75,000 seats to medical schools for the next five years.
As a result of this change:
India’s doctor-to-patient ratio will improve
Healthcare in neglected regions would be more accessible
Medical education and training in India would be made better.
5. Strengthening Cancer Care Facilities
Cancer is considered one of the leading causes of death in India and people typically have to travel to large cities to get specialised treatment. The government will set up hospitals 200 new cancer daycare centres in district hospitals this financial year to fill this gap.
The Critical Role of All-Inclusive Health Insurance
To achieve universal healthcare insurance coverage in India, it will be necessary to maintain efforts in a number of critical areas, despite the praiseworthy actions announced in the Union Budget 2025. These are:
1. Expanding Insurance Coverage Beyond PM-JAY
Despite its revolutionary nature, PM-JAY mostly serves economically disadvantaged communities. There aren’t many affordable insurance options, which makes medical bills a burden for middle-income families. It is important to prioritise the expansion of healthcare insurance to include more people.
2. Public-Private Partnerships in Healthcare Insurance
Working together, public and private entities can eventually develop insurance plans that are both accessible and innovative, accommodating a range of income levels.This will make sure that more individuals can afford healthcare.
3. Raising Awareness and Encouraging Health Insurance Adoption
Not many Indians get health insurance because they don’t know about it or have a skewed view of its benefits. The significance of health insurance should be promoted through awareness programmes across the country.
4. Boosting Preventive Healthcare Measures
Reduced strain on tertiary healthcare institutions is one benefit of a strong preventative healthcare system. Lower healthcare expenditures and hospitalisation rates are possible outcomes of public health campaigns that promote early identification, immunisation, and other preventative measures.
Conclusion
Incorporating gig workers into PM-JAY, increasing funding for the health sector, eliminating customs duty on essential medications, and boosting medical education are all ways in which the Union Budget 2025 has improved access to healthcare. Millions of Indians should benefit from these reforms in terms of healthcare accessibility, affordability, and quality.
The road to universal healthcare coverage, meanwhile, remains long. The next move toward universal healthcare coverage should be to manage growing medical expenses, expand insurance programmes, and promote public-private partnerships.