Political Economy of State Intervention in Health Care

in Health Care Veeranarayana Kethineni This paper seeks to put the debate on the relative efficiency of the state and the market in the production and distribution of health care services in a larger theoretical perspective by bringing in the Keynesian and the Marx- ian views on the nature of state intervention in a capitalist economy, particularly in health care, and to see their relevance in understanding the role of the state in the provision of health care in India. The first section of the paper summarises the neo-classical debate on the market versus state in health care, the second section deals with the Keynesian and the Marxian views on the role of state in a capitalist economy The nature of state intervention in health care provision in India is analysed in the final section.