Health Microinsurance: A Comparative Study of Three Examples in Bangladesh

This comparative study looks at three health insurance schemes in Bangladesh, namely those run by Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), Grameen Kalyan (GK) and the Society for Social Services (SSS).The paper states that all three organizations:

• Provide health care services in exchange for some kind of a premium;
• Limit the amount reimbursed;
• Have no reinsurance arrangements;
• Are increasing their outreach and services as per the clients' demands;
• Have overlooked the risks of adverse selection and have enrolled members without any restrictions;
• Interact closely with clients;
• Have strengthened their administration;
• Receive funding from donors or their parent organizations.

The paper concludes by listing the following lessons that the organizations have learned about health microinsurance schemes (HMI):

• Poor people require quality health care services at an affordable price;
• Running an HMI program requires different expertise than that needed to run a MFI;
• Poor people choose an HMI provider if it is known to them, provides quality care, has a good reputation and treats its clients well;
• Product design must be demand-driven and must be decided after consultation with end-users and the field staff;
• Premium collections and claims reimbursement systems should be simple;
• The strategy of serving the community at large, and charging higher rates from the less poor, needs to be explored further.