Background: Most healthcare spending in developing countries is private out-of-pocket. One explanation for low penetration of health insurance is that poorer individuals doubt their ability to enforce insurance contracts. Community-based health insurance schemes (CBHI) are a solution, but...

Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) (a.k.a. micro health insurance) is a contributory health insurance among rural poor in developing countries. As CBHI schemes typically function with no subsidy income, the schemes' expenditures cannot exceed their premium income. A good estimate of...

Objective: Non-communicable diseases (NCD) are on the increase in low-income countries, where healthcare costs are paid mostly out-of-pocket. We investigate the financial burden of NCD vs. communicable diseases (CD) among rural poor in India and assess whether they can afford to treat...

Focusing on poor people in low-income countries (LICs) entails a price constraint for those planning to supply health insurance. The challenge is to price health insurance at a level that ensures a balance between expenditure and income, at least in the long term, and remains affordable and...

Background amp; Objectives: In India, health services are funded largely through out-of-pocket spending (OOPS). The objective of this article is to provide data on the cost of an illness episode and parameters affecting cost.Methods: The data was obtained through a household survey carried out...

An appropriate scheme of health insurance must respond to clients' priorities, yet cover a finite and affordable benefit package. A variety of methods have been developed so far to engage the public in prioritising services. This paper deals with a plan that allows variably educated populations...

Underutilization of healthcare is common among rural and low-income population segments in countries with lower income or inequitable income distribution. Micro health insurance units (MIUs) are created by informal sector groups because people cannot access health insurance or are dissatisfied...

We applied a decision tool for rationing choices, with a predetermined budget of about US$11 per household per year, to identify priorities of poor people regarding health insurance benefits in India in late 2005. A total of 302 individuals, organized in 24 groups, participated from a number of...

Introduction: This study deals with consensus by poor persons in the informal sector in rural India on the benefit-package of their community-based health insurance (CBHI). In this article we describe the process of involving rural poor in benefit-package design and assess the underlying reasons...