how medical expenes done by Indians alone pushes down 2.2% of d population below poverty line each year in India

In India, the concept of poverty line does not take into account the medical expenses incurred by the households. It is argued that if this expenditure is also included in the estimation of poverty, the new estimate of poverty would be  higher than the actual estimate. Ill health and medical expenditure contributes to poverty in the following two ways. 

  • Ill health restricts the active participation of a person in the income earning activities. That is, poor health implies loss of income earning opportunity for the person. This results in low future income and consumption. 
  • Due to ill health the expenditure increases tremendously in terms of cost of treatment, opportunity cost of the care by the family members (loss work of family members), etc. 

Thus, it can be said that due to poor health the person remains trapped in 'medical poverty' (poverty induced by ill health).

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