India, Feb. 18 -- The sizeable purse allocated to several welfare schemes ahead of the Assembly election in 2024 has impacted many mainstay government schemes.

It has now come to the fore that a cash-strapped Maharashtra government owes Rs.923 crore to 1144 private hospitals empanelled under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY), the public health insurance scheme that covers over 2.8 crore financially underprivileged families. In a cascading effect, this has led to a reluctance among private hospitals to admit patients under the scheme.

The impact on the health scheme is the result of the government's budget cut by at least 20% from the overall Rs.8.2 lakh crore allocated for FY 2024-25.

The state government which spend...