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Health Microinsurance Outcomes Assessment Baseline Pakistan
Elizabeth McGuinness and Jennifer Mandel with Holly Korda and Ayesha Tayyab, June 2010
Interest in health microinsurance has been rapidly growing as has the number of initiatives to deliver private, commercially-based health insurance to the low-income market in developing countries. The Health Microinsurance (HMI) product, a voluntary, private insurance developed for the Northern Areas (NA) of Pakistan is just one example. This product was designed and implemented by the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM) with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The primary objective of the insurance is to prevent low-income families from falling into poverty as a result of catastrophic medical costs.
This study, the HMI Outcomes Assessment, will assess whether the HMI program reduces household vulnerability to health risks and if so, how. The study is part of the broader Financial Services Assessment (FSA) project. Undertaken by the IRIS Center at the University of Maryland and its partner Microfinance Opportunities, the FSA project aims to assess the impact of grants provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to microfinance organizations for the design and development of financial services innovations in developing countries.
Lessons from the study applicable to the industry include:
- The research indicates that the feasibility of health microinsurance remains a challenge in sparsely populated areas where transportation costs are high to access health care and other services. Covering transportation costs would increase the value proposition of the insurance for policyholders who live far from major health facilities and thus would increase the demand in these areas. Doing so, however, may or may not be financially viable.
- With voluntary insurance it is imperative to get the marketing and enrollment right. Incentives must be sufficient to effectively motivate the marketers within various distribution channels. Mass media product marketing can take the burden off community-based promoters and sales forces while reaching larger audiences.
Read full review and download study from FSA website
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