Status: The government is providing free diagnostics, free drugs, and cashless health insurance up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE). The OOPE as per cent of total health expenses has been steadily declining for the past few years. As per the latest available data, the OOPE as per cent of total health expenses stood at 47.1% in 2019-20; it means almost half of health spending is still paid by patients. Nonetheless, this is a decline from 58.7% in 2017 and 64.2% in 2014. i ii iii