New Health Insurance Study Findings Have Been Reported by Investigators at Institute for Health (Renewing membership in three community-based health…

Managed Care Weekly Digest

New Health Insurance Study Findings Have Been Reported by Investigators at Institute for Health (Renewing membership in three community-based health insurance schemes in rural India)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Fresh data on Health Insurance are presented in a new report. According to news reporting originating from New Delhi, India, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "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."

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Institute for Health, "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 similar to 23-24% and that 2 years after scheme operation, only similar to 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."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "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."

For more information on this research see: Renewing membership in three community-based health insurance schemes in rural India. Health Policy and Planning, 2016;31(10):1433-1444. Health Policy and Planning can be contacted at: Oxford Univ Press, Great Clarendon St, Oxford OX2 6DP, England. (Oxford University Press - www.oup.com/; Health Policy and Planning - heapol.oxfordjournals.org)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting P. Panda, Int Inst Hlth Management Res, New Delhi 110075, India. Additional authors for this research include A. Chakraborty, W. Raza and A.S. Bedi (see also Health Insurance).

Keywords for this news article include: New Delhi, India, Asia, Health Insurance, Institute for Health.