Financing of healthcare is one of the critical determinants of achieving better health outcomes. In India, a government agency, National Health Accounts, monitors the flow of resources in a country’s health system and provides detailed data on health finances has divided insurance into two types.

This case study compares benefit packages of varoius government sponsored health insurance programs in India, including the national health insurance program, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and some state sponsored programs and employer based programs.

The study finds that that the design of the current social protection programs in the country lays heavy emphasis on hospital and specialty care and neglects to include primary healthcare as an integral part of the health system design, leaving a significant gap in the attempt to extend universal health coverage in India. The analysis also highlights the exclusion of ambulatory care as a design feature of the programs.