India is being discussed in policy and healthcare circles as a country that could potentially become the first nation where access to quality healthcare is not determined by a person’s income or wealth. The idea has been strongly articulated by leading cardiac surgeon Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, who argues that India has the scale, technology and policy direction to make healthcare affordable and accessible to all citizens.
The concept of “dissociating healthcare from wealth” means that the quality and availability of medical treatment should not depend on how rich or poor a person is. In many countries, including India, healthcare has traditionally been linked to financial capacity—those who can pay more often receive faster and better treatment. The emerging vision for India is to create a system where financial status does not determine survival, treatment quality, or access to advanced care.
Several structural changes are driving this possibility. The government’s Ayushman Bharat–PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) is the world’s largest publicly funded health insurance scheme, covering around 50 crore (500 million) people, primarily from low-income households. The scheme provides free hospitalization and specialist care, significantly reducing out-of-pocket expenses that previously pushed millions into poverty each year.
Technology and scale are also central to this transformation. Experts highlight that India’s digital health ecosystem, telemedicine, low-cost hospital models, and high-volume treatment systems can dramatically reduce the cost of procedures. With affordable insurance platforms and digital health infrastructure, India could demonstrate that quality healthcare can be delivered at low cost even to a large population, breaking the traditional link between wealth and health outcomes.
At the same time, the transition is still a work in progress. Challenges such as uneven infrastructure, shortages of doctors and hospital capacity and differences between public and private care remain significant. However, the policy direction—universal coverage, public financing and cost-efficient delivery—signals a long-term shift toward universal and equitable healthcare access.
