除了個人平均所得之外，健康與人類發展對一國整體的社會經濟發展而言是密不可分的。在過去的六十多年裡，由於現代醫藥普及，印度的健康體系已有相當的改善，尤其是在壽命（life expectancy）與嬰兒夭折率（infant mortality rate）這兩項健康狀況指標。但是，這兩項成就在印度各邦之間卻有很大的差距。另一項事實是印度增加健康醫療普及的速度的確很慢。這很大一部份與嚴密管理的國家化健康保險業有關。 本文主旨是討論開放保險業市場將如何會促使印度的健康醫療擴及貧民以及如何會改善與強化印度向世界行銷醫療觀光與病患照顧的人力資源的優勢。

Health and human development, in addition to per capita incomes, form an integral part of the overall socio-economic development of a nation. The health system in India has improved during the past six decades with the spread and accessibility of modern medicine and considerable improvements in two important indicators of health status, life expectancy at birth and the infant mortality rate. In terms of life expectancy, child survival and maternal mortality, India’s performance has improved steadily. However there are wide divergences in the achievements across states. However, what is also true is that India’s attempts at accelerating the pace of access to Health care are indeed slow. And much of this is on account of the severely regulated and nationalized health insurance sector. This paper looks at how an opening up of the insurance sector will enable India to increase health care access to the poor and better leverage its strength in human resources to market health tourism, healthcare and patient care to the rest of the world.