Micro-insurance Facilitates Healthcare in India

Healing Fields Foundation, which currently provides microinsurance to 2,000 families in various districts in central India, will expand its program to the West Godavari District. According to Mukti K. Bosco, the leader of Healing Fields, fifty-two percent of rural borrowers take out loans for health-related emergencies. Microinsurance is beneficial for the following reasons:

1. The poor do not wait to seek health services until their illness becomes serious. Health costs decrease with early treatment. Furthermore, with a group health plan, the rural farmers can demand better health care services from their provider.

2. Calculations show that premiums for group insurance schemes are more cost effective than loan repayments.

3. Farmers are willing to invest more for farming when holding a weather insurance policy.

Additional Resources

1) Community Health Insurance Network (CHIN) members

2) Microinsurance Providers

3) Business Standard: “Insuring rural health”

4) Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development: “Social Exclusion and Access to Health Care in Developing Countries”