National Health Entitlement Card

• National Health Entitlement Card is a proposed health package via which, every citizen that will guarantee access to a package of essential primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare fully funded by the Centre.
• This proposal has been recently finalized by a panel of Planning Commission and it proposes to cover both in-patient and OPD services free of cost with cashless facility.
• The expert group has called for universalization of healthcare, suggesting that public spending on health be raised from around 1.4% of GDP to at least 2.5% by the end of 12th five-year plan (2012-17) and at least 3% by 2020 to achieve the objective of healthcare for all.
• The health package will focus on the most common and high-impact healthcare requirements.

In the proposed scheme, the Centre will bear the cost of services offered under the national health package, while state governments can add more services at their own cost. The health services can be availed through public sector and contracted private facilities, including NGOs and non-profit agencies.