India, June 11 -- The most important statistic from the latest National Statistics Office (NSO) report on health spending in India was health care inflation outpacing overall inflation between July 2017-June 2018 and January-December 2025. What really explains this higher-than-normal increase in health spending in India? Answering this question is crucial from both an institutional and household perspective. There are a large number of Indians who are still not covered by health insurance and even private and government health insurers have to pay for the cost of health care, which, ultimately feeds into higher insurance premium or fiscal costs. NSO data cannot be deemed conclusive, but it does offer some important hints.

Published by HT...