New Health Insurance Findings from Abt Associates Described (Extending health insurance coverage to the informal sector: Lessons from a private micro…

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New Health Insurance Findings from Abt Associates Described (Extending health insurance coverage to the informal sector: Lessons from a private micro health insurance scheme in Lagos, Nigeria)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Investigators publish new report on Health Insurance. According to news reporting originating in Bethesda, Maryland, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "As a growing number of low-and middle-income countries commit to achieving universal health coverage, one key challenge is how to extend coverage to informal sector workers. Micro health insurance (MHI) provides a potential model to finance health services for this population."

Financial support for this research came from United States Agency for International Development.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Abt Associates, "This study presents lessons from a pilot study of a mandatory MHI plan offered by a private insurance company and distributed through a microfinance bank to urban, informal sector workers in Lagos, Nigeria. Study methods included a survey of microfinance clients, key informant interviews, and a review of administrative records. Demographic, health care seeking, and willingness-to-pay data suggested that microfinance clients, particularly women, could benefit from a comprehensive MHI plan that improved access to health care and reduced out-of-pocket spending on health services. However, administrative data revealed declining enrollment, and key informant interviews further suggested low use of the health insurance plan. Key implementation challenges, including changes to mandatory enrollment requirements, insufficient client education and marketing, misaligned incentives, and weak back-office systems, undermined enrollment and use of the plan. Mandatory MHI plans, intended to mitigate adverse selection and facilitate private insurers' entry into new markets, present challenges for covering informal sector workers, including when distributed through agents such as a microfinance bank. Properly aligning the incentives of the insurer and the agent are critical to effectively distribute and service insurance."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Further, an urban environment presents unique challenges for distributing MHI, addressing client perceptions of health insurance, and meeting their health care needs."

For more information on this research see: Extending health insurance coverage to the informal sector: Lessons from a private micro health insurance scheme in Lagos, Nigeria. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 2018;():.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting L. Peterson, International Health, Abt Associates, Bethesda, Maryland, United States. Additional authors for this research include A. Comfort, L. Hatt and T. van Bastelaer.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.2519. 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.

Keywords for this news article include: Bethesda, Maryland, Business, United States, Health Insurance, Health and Medicine, North and Central America.