WRPE Produced and distributed by Pluto Journals www.plutojournals.com/wrpe/ Shailender Kumar Hooda holds a PhD in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and is currently Associate Professor at the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), New Delhi, India. He works on the political economy of health and healthcare, health economics and policy-related issues, especially decentralization in health, equity and financing, corporatization and the healthcare industry. He specializes in handling large-scale survey data relating to the Indian economy, and in conducting and designing primary surveys. He has previously taught at the University of Delhi and Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, and has worked with the National Council of Applied Economic Research and the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi. Email: hoodask@isid.edu.in HEALTH SYSTEM IN TRANSITION IN INDIA Journey from State Provisioning to Privatization Shailender Kumar Hooda Abstract: This paper highlights how privatization in healthcare is being promoted and its further growth facilitated through the adoption of neoliberal policies in India. The approach to financing healthcare has been shifting from public provisioning to tax- funded health insurance merely to achieve health coverage. The idea of the strategic purchasing of care from private providers promoted through insurance seems likely to aggravate the crisis in access and healthcare delivery. Such a crisis will escalate costs and promote concentration and monopolies in the healthcare market. Under the recently promoted neoliberal policy, India is compromising the goal of comprehensive provision of public health services, which is essential for creating a healthier society. Keywords: neoliberalism in health; health system transition; privatization; health insurance 1. Introduction As an important commodity for individuals and nations as a whole, healthcare has been on the political agenda of every government across the world. Historically, there have been different ideological and practical approaches to designing health- care systems in different countries. The healthcare system in Western industrial states and societies places emphasis largely on curative aspects, and is limited to hospital-provided health services, medical practice, and pharmacies. Preventive care (prevention of diseases) has occupied a relatively small place in these health systems. However, at the first World Health Assembly organized by the World