Acceptability of, and willingness to pay for, community health insurance in rural India

Ankit Jain; Selva Swetha; Zeena Johar; Ramesh Raghavan

doi:10.1016/j.jegh.2013.12.004

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Volume 4, Issue 3, September 2014, Pages 159 - 167

Acceptability of, and willingness to pay for, community health insurance in rural India

Authors

Ankit Jain^a, Selva Swetha^a, Zeena Johar^a, Ramesh Raghavan^b^{, *}^,raghavan@wustl.edu

^aIKP Centre for Technologies in Public Health, A2, Amsavalli Illam, 7th Cross Street, Arulananda Nagar, Thanjavur 613007, India

^bWashington University in St. Louis, Brown School, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA

^*Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 314 935 4469; fax: +1 314 935 8511.

Corresponding Author

Ramesh Raghavanraghavan@wustl.edu

Received 28 August 2013, Revised 2 December 2013, Accepted 8 December 2013, Available Online 25 January 2014.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jegh.2013.12.004 How to use a DOI?
Keywords: India; Community health insurance; Health insurance; Acceptability; Rural health
Abstract: Objectives: To understand the acceptability of, and willingness to pay for, community health insurance coverage among residents of rural India.

Methods: We conducted a mixed methods study of 33 respondents located in 8 villages in southern India. Interview domains focused on health-seeking behaviors of the family for primary healthcare, household expenditures on primary healthcare, interest in pre-paid health insurance, and willingness to pay for such a product.

Results: Most respondents reported that they would seek care only when symptoms were manifest; only 6 respondents recognized the importance of preventative services. None reported impoverishment due to health expenditures. Few viewed health insurance as necessary either because they did not wish to be early adopters, because they had alternate sources of financial support, or because of concerns with the design of insurance coverage or the provider. Those who were interested reported being willing to pay Rs. 1500 ($27) as the modal annual insurance premium.

Conclusions: Penetration of community health insurance programs in rural India will require education of the consumer base, careful attention to premium rate setting, and deeper understanding of social networks that may act as financial substitutes for health insurance.
Copyright: © 2013 Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Open Access: This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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Journal: Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
Volume-Issue: 4 - 3
Pages: 159 - 167
Publication Date: 2014/01/25
ISSN (Online): 2210-6014
ISSN (Print): 2210-6006
DOI: 10.1016/j.jegh.2013.12.004 How to use a DOI?
Open Access: This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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ris enw bib

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ankit Jain
AU  - Selva Swetha
AU  - Zeena Johar
AU  - Ramesh Raghavan
PY  - 2014
DA  - 2014/01/25
TI  - Acceptability of, and willingness to pay for, community health insurance in rural India
JO  - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
SP  - 159
EP  - 167
VL  - 4
IS  - 3
SN  - 2210-6014
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jegh.2013.12.004
DO  - 10.1016/j.jegh.2013.12.004
ID  - Jain2014
ER  -

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