Abstract:
This paper examines the social and economic effects of health
microinsurance and explores potential channels through which usage
can be increased using insights obtained from in-depth focus group
discussions (FGD). Our main findings were as follows: (i) women are
the most active users of the program with a major focus on seeking
health care for maternal and gynecological conditions; (ii) The
program can promote client retention, thereby offering immense
benefits to the microfinance institution; (iii) Supply side constraints
such as physical distance to hospitals and a dearth of listed health
facilities emerge as binding constraints for program utilization and
(iv) Borrowers appear to view health microinsurance as a substitute
to public health, evident from a higher rate of program utilization in
areas with lower levels of public health infrastructure.
