Health Microinsurance

INTRODUCTION

Health micro-insurance – referred by different names such as community-based health insurance, micro-health insurance, mutual health insurance, community-based health financing, community health insurance etc -is a form of micro-insurance in which resources are pooled to mitigate health risks and cover health care services in full or in part. Health micro-insurance schemes are more complex in nature compared to life insurance schemes, as they provide services towards specific risks or illnesses and involve the role a health care provider, whether independent of or in partnership with the scheme.  The scheme can be provided by government, a private insurance company, an NGO or a CBO.

Health microinsurance (HMI) offers a promising way to mitigate the risks of disease and ill health, which are disproportionately borne by the india’s poorest citizens. Despite that HMI is a relatively new phenomenon, recent figures indicate that approximately 40 million people worldwide have some form of HMI coverage, principally in India. The emergence of HMI programmes provides hope that the poor will receive, at a minimum, a reliable, adequate level of access to affordable healthcare. Research shows that access to HMI reduces out-of-pocket health expenses, especially for catastrophic health events, and improves access to quality health care for those who are insured. There is also evidence that HMI stimulates important health seeking behaviours such as the use of mosquito nets and receipt of malaria treatment earlier in the disease cycle.

Nevertheless, little is known about the impact of HMI on health outcomes and household well-being, especially when it concerns the poorest individuals who tend to be excluded from HMI programmes and who generally receive a lower quality of care. There is still scope to expand member benefits in HMI. In so doing, low-income individuals can be better enabled to access medically necessary care at the appropriate time, thus reducing...