Microinsurance: Innovations in Low-cost Health Insurance
This study analyses and reports the impact of three microinsurance schemes in India on financial protection and equitable access to health care.
Microinsurance can provide financial protection for poor households and improve access to health care. Low benefit caps, however, limit these schemes' ability to extend coverage, offer financial protection, and retain members. The analysis of Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF), UpLift Health and Nidan reveals:
- Low socioeconomic status among clients;
- Dissimilar illness patterns across schemes, with higher incidence of illness among BAIF and Nidan members;
- Higher use of hospitals among the insured;
- Preference for private healthcare providers;
- Lower levels of inequality among the insured;
- Pro-rich distribution of drugs per illness.
The study findings indicate that low caps and loss ratios are counterproductive in extending insurance coverage, financial protection, and high renewal rates among the poor in India. The paper concludes that microinsurance units, despite less funding and professional resources than commercial insurers, have been able to provide equal, if not better protection to their members, through mobilization of context-relevant social processes.
