Budget 2018: Corporate hospitals must change model to cash in on Modicare

The government's flagship National Health Protection Scheme will increase patient access and lower healthcare costs, but corporate hospitals will have to tweak their business models in order to tap the growth opportunity, say health sector analysts.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, in his budget speech on Thursday, announced the National Health Protection Scheme providing hospitalisation cover of Rs 500,000 a year to 100 million families. Jaitley indicated that the scheme was the first step towards universal healthcare and could be extended to cover more families, based on success.

Currently, most of the healthcare spend is out-of-pocket and only about 20 per cent of the population has medical insurance.