Insurance-driven health care threatens public health system, warns KSSP seminar

The growing influence of insurance companies and private hospital managements in the health care sector is contributing to exploitation of patients and weakening the public health system, eminent health economist V. Ramankutty has said.

Inaugurating a State-level health seminar organised by the Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) in Thrissur, on Saturday he alleged that an unholy nexus between insurance companies and hospital managements was aggravating the problems faced by patients. The growing penetration of insurance in health care could also lead to a reduction in government budgetary allocations and the State’s gradual withdrawal from public health care, he warned.

Insurance companies driven primarily by profit were failing to ensure adequate services and coverage for patients, he said. A large section of beneficiaries was dissatisfied with insurance schemes, including MEDISEP, which covers Kerala government employees and pensioners.

He called for stronger regulation of corporate players in health care and increased government spending on public health. The government could mobilise additional revenue by introducing a health cess and sin taxes, which could then be used to strengthen public healthcare services, he suggested. People’s health activist K.G. Radhakrishnan presided over the seminar.

Presenting the subject, speakers warned that multinational corporations acquiring small and large private hospitals in Keralam could drive up treatment costs. Government-sponsored insurance schemes would not provide a lasting solution to this trend, he said.

Instead, governments should strengthen the public health care system and work towards eliminating out-of-pocket expenditure on treatment, they said, stressing the need to make quality health care accessible without imposing a financial burden on patients and their families.