The project will produce various publications to communicate its findings. We will inform on new publications here and offer them - if possible - as downloadable files.
So, please revisit this page regularly.
Health insurance for the poor: myths and realities
An article published in Economic and Political Weekly captures in a nutshell the myths and realities in health insruance for the poor in India. The article, written by the project's lead expert Prof. David Dror, confronts prevailing myths in India with evidence from this project's survey. The article can be downloaded here.
Karuna Trust - Good and Bad Practices Case Study No.19
Karuna Trust is an NGO that has been working successfully on health and development issues for nearly two decades. In 2002, Karuna Trust, in a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), decided to implement a pilot health insurance scheme for its target population. The non-governmental organization (NGO) collaborated with the state-owned National Insurance Company (NIC) in designing a health insurance product that complements the public healthcare infrastructure and compensates for some of its weaknesses. Karuna Trust acts as an agent for NIC. The insurance product compensates the insured for the loss of income in case of hospitalization at a public health facility. Furthermore, a drug fund was set up to supply medicines that are unavailable in public facilities. People with income around the poverty line receive treatment in public health facilities free-of-charge. A tight network between the insurance scheme and the public infrastructure has evolved.
Download the cast study here.
Yeshasvini Trust - Good and Bad Practices Cast Study No. 20
The Yeshasvini Cooperative Farmers Health Scheme is a young but incredibly successful microinsurance scheme in Karnataka. Having started in 2003 with 1.6 million insured right away, it covered 2.2 million lives in its second year of operation, but in the third year it dropped to 1.45 million members after doubling the premium. This (still) amazing success is possible through a tight partnership with the cooperative sector enabled through the Karnataka Department of Cooperation. The department used its influence to encourage cooperative societies to market the product actively. The marketing strategy applied by the societies’ secretaries varies: while most convince their members to join, a few simply enrolled their members.
Download the cast study here.
Microhealthinsurance UPDATE
The Microhealthinsurance Update provides an overview on the recent development in the project and announements as well as thematic articles concerning current problems discussed. Furthermore, we will report about the micro health insurance schemes, which are cooperating with the project.
To be up to date subscribe to the "Update" and view the latest newsletters here.
Position Papers
India's microinsurance market is in rapid developement. All stakeholders involved need to review their strategies and positions regularly. The project "Strengthening Micro Health Insurance Units for the Poor in India" is happy to contribute to the development of positions of important stakeholders and regularly submits position papers to the respective parties. You can find some positions papers prepared by the project here.
News
Integrating Health Insurance for the Poor into the Indian Health Insurance Scenario
In July 2005 Insurance Watch published the article "Integrating Health Insurance for the Poor into the Indian Health Insurance Scenario" by David M Dror and Ralf Radermacher. Health Insurance can be a viable option to protect all people, including the poor, from high health costs. In order to speed up its development in India, some supporting measures are needed at the macro level. In addition, other measures that are contemplated at the macro level should not restrict initiatives at the micro level. Read more here.