An important reason for such disparities is inequitable access to
health services. The poor and middle classes do not have the same
level of access to high quality health care as the wealthy [4,5,6,7,8].
Inequitable access to healthcare occurs due to a myriad of
factors, but is rooted in a low overall financing of healthcare by the
State. India spends only 5% annual gross domestic product (GDP)
on health care [9]. Of this, most of the expenditure (about 80%) is
private out-of-pocket. High out-of-pocket costs make health
services inaccessible to a significant proportion of Indian
households.