Paper

Brief Technical Report on Swasthyapurna Mutual Health Fund

How can health insurance be provided to the slum dwellers of Pune city?
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Using the case study of Swasthyapurna Mutual Health Fund, this paper explores the evolving health micro insurance scheme in Pune, India. The paper presents important characteristics of the Swasthyapurna scheme:

  • Offered by Annapurna Pariwar, Pune, and supported by the French NGO, Inter Aide;
  • Targets urban slum dwellers in Pune city;
  • Annual premium is Rs.50 per member, if all members of a family join;
  • Annual premium is Rs.100, if all family members do not join;
  • Up to 80% of the costs of a hospitalization due to most prevalent diseases are covered with a ceiling of Rs.5,000 per year and person.

The scheme is organized in the three levels while a fourth one is being planned:

  • Group level;
  • Cluster level;
  • NGO level: Swasthyapurna staff together with Inter Aide and cluster representatives;
  • Federation level as reinsurance (planned).

Using Strengths-Weakness-Opportunities and Threat (SWOT) analysis, the authors make the following recommendations for the scheme:

  • Quickly building up a federation of mutual health funds to act as a kind of reinsurance for avoiding a financial collapse;
  • Negotiating special offers with mainstream insurance companies;
  • Introducing some kind of scholarship or a saving instrument for educational expenditure of clients' households;
  • Formalizing premium collections;
  • Fixing rules for claim settlements.

About this Publication

By Leist, H., Radermacher, R.
Published