New Data from Bentley University Illuminate Findings in Insurance (Health Insurance and Child Mortality: Evidence From India): Insurance

Health Policy and Law Daily

2024 FEB 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Fresh data on Insurance are presented in a new report. According to news reporting originating from Waltham, Massachusetts, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Although less than a third of the population in developing countries is covered by health insurance, the number has been on the rise. Many countries have implemented national insurance policies in the past decade.”

Financial support for this research came from University of Vermont.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Bentley University, “However, there is limited evidence on their impact on child mortality in low- and middle-income contexts. Here we document the child mortality reducing effects of an at-scale national level health insurance policy in India. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), was rolled out across India between 2008 and 2013. Leveraging the temporal and spatial variation in program implementation, we demonstrate that it lowered infant mortality by 6% and child under five mortality by 5%. The effects are largely concentrated among urban poor households. In terms of mechanisms, we find that the program effects seem to be driven by increased usage of reproductive health services by mothers.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “We also demonstrate a rise in usage of complementary health services that were were not covered under the policy (such as child immunizations), which suggests that RSBY had significant positive spillover effects on health care usage.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Health Insurance and Child Mortality: Evidence From India. Health Economics, 2024. Health Economics can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Health Economics - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1050)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Naveen Sunder, Bentley University, Dept. of Economics, Waltham, MA 02452, United States.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4798. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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