The growth of India’s economy permits this long overdue increase in public financing of health. The recognition of investment in health as both a developmental imperative and a pathway for winning popular political support has been evident in many recent initiatives ranging from the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana(RSBY) and a multitude of state-sponsored health insurance schemes. The social objectives of all of these schemes would need to be merged and their scope considerably expanded to create a valued and viable model of UHC in India.