Govt collects health cess, but spends less than it did earlier

When the health cess was introduced, the understanding was that it would boost health expenditure by topping up what the govt was already allocating. Clearly, that has not happened. Instead, cess is masking what would otherwise be a steep cut in the share of health in total Budget and in GDP. From 0.32% of the GDP in 2019, the year before Covid struck, the share has fallen to 0.27% even with the cess component.