The future of health care has become an important social and political issue over the last decade. One major issue in this debate is how to keep costs under control while meeting consumers' increasing expectations. The per capita cost of health care in developing countries is much less than that in developed countries. This is partly because of the burden, in developed countries, of chronic diseases like diabetes. However, a changing prevalence of disease patterns is likely to increase the burden of chronic diseases in developing countries such as India.