Health Insurance
Whilst the poor in the third world do have access to public health facilities in most countries, they often choose to utilise low-cost private facilities whenever possible because doctors and drugs are generally in short supply in the public system.
The private providers require that monies be deposited upfront before treatment begins, often leading to a delay and subsequent deterioration in the patient’s health as the family struggle to sell assets, borrow money or make risky choices in order to get the funds.
MicroEnsure has introduced a unique in-patient cashless health microinsurance product in conjunction with SHARE Microfin, a leading Indian MFI, United India Insurance Company and Medicare TPA. After a successful pilot distribution the product was expanded to include Calcutta Kids, an NGO working with slum dwellers, and Church Southern India serving fishing communities in Kerala. Throughout 2010 it will be expanded to Africa and Asia.
Innovation is central to MicroEnsure’s business model. Within India, the TPA system has enabled providers with MicroEnsure to sell and service health microinsurance that costs US$10 a year for a family of four people and provides a benefit of US$450 per family on a floater basis. This system allows flexible payment options for families of different sizes and those unable to afford to pay the premium in a single lump sum. The product was the first in India to cover maternity and pre-existing illness from the first day of coverage. The use of a slum-based NGO and religious group to sell voluntary health microinsurance proved that alternative channels other than MFI’s exist to reach the poor.
MicroEnsure realised that in order to provide similar products to its client base in Africa and Asia it needed to have TPA capability and its own underwriting capacity. The experience of this program led to MicroEnsure purchasing a TPA for use in Africa and Asia and the creation of the world’s first “virtual Cell Captive” where Hollard Insurance Company provided MicroEnsure with access to its underwriting capacity so that MicroEnsure can design, price, sell and pay claims globally for similar health microinsurance products.
From Grants to Commercial Funding
Richard Leftley shares his thoughts with Devex about when grant funding should be replaced by more commercial forms of funding.
M-Insurance Expands to Tanzania
MicroEnsure’s remarkable new M-Insurance product in Ghana reached more than 250,000 people within six months. Its success convinced MicroEnsure’s partners to expand the service into Tanzania.
The Presidents Column
I am delighted to report that at the end of September 2011 we were serving over a million people in Africa. This statistic is all the more remarkable when you consider that it is ten times the number we were covering just 12 months ago!
