Community Based Micro Health Insurance as an Enabler of Solidarity and Self-Help amongst Poor Communities
This article reviews the Micro Insurance Academy’s (MIA) approach towards improving access of vulnerable communities to micro health insurance services.
Microinsurance units (MIUs) in India create a rudimentary insurance among marginalized and underserved segments of the population. Most of them are managed independently, and therefore, face enhanced actuarial and organizational risk and less opportunity to go to optimal scale with administration. MIA, established in 2007, assists MIUs to train community members in insurance domain-knowledge and dedicated information technology, so that they can operate MIUs, design relevant benefit packages, and transfer outlier risk to other underwriters. The MIA works with communities to create a process, and design products that meet their needs, priorities, and levels of willingness to pay. It focuses on an integrated approach that encompasses tools and training to:
- Mobilize people to create new MIUs;
- Empower communities to take charge of MIU governance;
- Empower MIUs to develop sustainable operations.
MIA proposes that MIUs follow a mutual model of community-based insurance where members play an active role, based on the principles of self-help, self-management and self-responsibility.
