It is increasingly recognized that the economic cost of a risk is greater to the insured than to the insurer, and therefore the transfer of risk can create value for the insured poor. But is there is sufficient opportunity for the poor to transfer risks to insurers? This article identifies some...

Microinsurance - low-cost health insurance based on a community, cooperative, or mutual and self-help arrangements - can provide financial protection for poor households and improve access to health care. However, low benefit caps and a low share of premiums paid as benefits - both designed to...

Micro health insurance units (MIUs) reduce negative financial consequences of healthcare costs for people who cannot access to formal and affordable health insurance. In order to survive, MIUs need capital to cover their outlier costs (whose probability of occurring is low but not zero). The...

We identify the need for a theory of demand for health insurance suited to the informal sector in low and middle income countries where some 3 billion people lack health cover. Excluded from formal governance structures, they rely on informal arrangements by which rules-in-use shape choices,...

This report is based on information collected in two districts of Nepal (Banke and Dhading) in early 2009 and concerns the launch of community-based micro health insurance units for members of Nirdhan and DEPROSC, two grassroots microfinance NGOs. The study entailed a household survey of 2,008...

The definition of microinsurance can be split into its two aspects: Firstly, what constitutes insurance and secondly, what is micro in microinsurance. This chapter offers an explanation of both aspects

This paper reports on two voluntary, contributory, contextualized, community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes, launched in Dhading and Banke (Nepal) in 2011. The implementation followed a four stage process: initiating (baseline survey), involving (awareness generation and engaging...