Kerala’s out-of-pocket expense in hospitals still among the highest in country
Kerala records the highest out-of-pocket health expenses and hospitalization rates in India, according to the NSS 80th round survey, despite its strong healthcare infrastructure. The state has the highest morbidity rate at 39.7%, triple the national average, with a sharp increase since 2017-18. Reliance on private healthcare remains high, contributing to elevated personal spending on medical care. The data highlight a growing burden of illness and healthcare costs in the state.
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Kerala has emerged an outlier in almost every health indicator in the National Sample Survey’s (NSS) 80th round Socio-Economic Survey, ‘Household Social Consumption: Health,’ showing high morbidity, highest hospitalisation rates in the country, and high reliance on private health care.As per the NSS data, Kerala has the highest morbidity, defined as Proportion of People Responded as Ailing (PPRA), during the last 15-day period of the survey, at 39.7%. This is three times the national average of 13.1%. The PPRA for Kerala has risen sharply since the 75th round — from approximately 24.5% in 2017-18 to the current 39.7%, a jump of about 15 percentage points.
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