Renewing membership in three community-based health insurance schemes in rural India

P Panda*, A Chakraborty, W Raza, Arjun Bedi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleProfessionalpeer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Low renewal rate is a key challenge facing the sustainability of community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes. While there is a large literature on initial enrolment into such schemes, there is limited evidence on the factors that impede renewal. This article uses longitudinal data to analyse what determines renewal, both 1 year and 2 years after the introduction of three CBHI schemes, which have been operating in rural Bihar and Uttar Pradesh since 2011. We find that initial scheme uptake is ∼23–24% and that 2 years after scheme operation, only ∼20% of the initial enrolees maintain their membership. A household’s socio-economic status does not seem to play a large role in impeding renewal. In some instances, a greater understanding of the scheme boosts renewal. The link between health status and use of health care in maintaining renewal is mixed. The clearest effect is that individuals living in households that have received benefits from the scheme are substantially more likely to renew their contracts. We conclude that the low retention rates may be attributed to limited benefit packages, slow claims processing times and the gap between the amounts claimed and amounts paid out by insurance.
Original languageUndefined/Unknown
Pages (from-to)1433-1444
Number of pages12
JournalHealth Policy and Planning
Volume31
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2016

Research programs

  • EUR-ISS-EDEM

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