000			01939nam a22001577a 4500
999			_c521319 _d521319
008			230104b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aYadav, Priyanka and Ray, Amit Shovon _936515
245			_aPrivate sector presence in healthcare in India: Econometric analysis of patterns and consequences
260			_aSouth Asia Economic Journal
300			_a23(2), Sep, 2022: p.171-200
520			_aThe presence of private providers in the Indian healthcare sector remains one of the most debated issues. This article attempts to contribute to this debate from the angle of the ultimate goal of healthcare provision—a healthy population. We explore whether private sector presence (PSP) has improved the general health status of the people. We develop a theoretical argument to hypothesize that PSP in India would lead to better health status through the route of competition-driven quality, which in turn could lead to adverse economic consequences. We use district-level secondary data from government sources to confirm our hypotheses using robust tools of applied econometrics, correcting for serious problems of endogeneity. Constructing a district-level index of PSP, we identify distinct spatial/geographical clusters, explained by socio-economic prosperity as well as demonstration effect. We also find a robust positive association between PSP and general health outcomes, accompanied by an adverse economic consequence of rising catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure. In terms of policy, the article concludes that rather than restricting the growth of the private sector, the government must strengthen the quality of the existing public healthcare delivery system and ensure effective monitoring and regulation. – Reproduced
650			_aPrivate sector healthcare, India, Health behaviour, Health outcomes, Health policy _935013
773			_aSouth Asia Economic Journal
906			_aHEALTH SERVICES
942			_cAR