A Comparison Of Public Expenditures
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Public Expenditures Overview
A comparison of Public Expenditures on Health in the two countries is the preliminary basis for evaluating where India stands with respect to the current superpower China, as both have strikingly similar demographics and health patterns.
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An overview of the evolution of the health systems in China and India reveals some similar patterns and striking differences. We summarize the countries’ important historical developments and milestones in the table below. Although China and India face very different demographic and health challenges, both countries have achieved great health gains since the late 1940s. …show more content…
For example, India has many more deaths due to communicable diseases. The next table summarizes death rates, categorized by cause, in both countries in 2000. In China, non-communicable diseases accounted for 77 percent of all deaths. Heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer accounted for approximately 67 percent of all deaths. Among infectious diseases, only lower respiratory infections, hepatitis B virus infection and tuberculosis, and perinatal conditions contributed to relatively significant mortality. In India, on the other hand, communicable and non-communicable diseases each caused more than 40 percent of all deaths. Compared with China, India had much higher death rates due to HIV/AIDS, diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections, and prenatal conditions, but lower rates of cancer and respiratory diseases (WHO, …show more content…
In 2004 poor Indians spent 40 percent of their income on health care; the rich spent about 2.4 percent (Varatharajan, Thankappan, and Sabeena, 2004). Studies found that medical expenses were one of the three main factors pushing people into poverty (Krishna, 2004). Seventeen to 34 percent of hospitalized patients were impoverished because of medical costs (Peters et al., 2002). The heavy burden of health costs in China and India is not a surprise, given the lack of well-developed health-insurance schemes in both countries. This high burden is exacerbated by several factors. First, the lack of access to affordable care means that people defer preventive and other necessary care. Consequently, when they do seek care, they typically have a more serious and costly medical condition. Second, for those who seek treatment, physician-induced overutilization of care further increases the financial burden of care.
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Consumer Satisfaction
WHO’s 2000 report also argues that one of the fundamental goals of health systems is to respond to consumer expectations:
In particular, people have a right to expect that the health system will treat them with individual dignity . . . their needs should be promptly attended to, without long delays in waiting for diagnosis and treatment—not only for better health outcomes but also to respect the value of people’s time and to reduce their anxiety. Patients
Public Expenditures Overview
A comparison of Public Expenditures on Health in the two countries is the preliminary basis for evaluating where India stands with respect to the current superpower China, as both have strikingly similar demographics and health patterns.
-------------------------------------------------
An overview of the evolution of the health systems in China and India reveals some similar patterns and striking differences. We summarize the countries’ important historical developments and milestones in the table below. Although China and India face very different demographic and health challenges, both countries have achieved great health gains since the late 1940s. …show more content…
For example, India has many more deaths due to communicable diseases. The next table summarizes death rates, categorized by cause, in both countries in 2000. In China, non-communicable diseases accounted for 77 percent of all deaths. Heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer accounted for approximately 67 percent of all deaths. Among infectious diseases, only lower respiratory infections, hepatitis B virus infection and tuberculosis, and perinatal conditions contributed to relatively significant mortality. In India, on the other hand, communicable and non-communicable diseases each caused more than 40 percent of all deaths. Compared with China, India had much higher death rates due to HIV/AIDS, diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections, and prenatal conditions, but lower rates of cancer and respiratory diseases (WHO, …show more content…
In 2004 poor Indians spent 40 percent of their income on health care; the rich spent about 2.4 percent (Varatharajan, Thankappan, and Sabeena, 2004). Studies found that medical expenses were one of the three main factors pushing people into poverty (Krishna, 2004). Seventeen to 34 percent of hospitalized patients were impoverished because of medical costs (Peters et al., 2002). The heavy burden of health costs in China and India is not a surprise, given the lack of well-developed health-insurance schemes in both countries. This high burden is exacerbated by several factors. First, the lack of access to affordable care means that people defer preventive and other necessary care. Consequently, when they do seek care, they typically have a more serious and costly medical condition. Second, for those who seek treatment, physician-induced overutilization of care further increases the financial burden of care.
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Consumer Satisfaction
WHO’s 2000 report also argues that one of the fundamental goals of health systems is to respond to consumer expectations:
In particular, people have a right to expect that the health system will treat them with individual dignity . . . their needs should be promptly attended to, without long delays in waiting for diagnosis and treatment—not only for better health outcomes but also to respect the value of people’s time and to reduce their anxiety. Patients