Risk-sharing in rural health care
Jajoo, U.N.
World Health Forum 13(2-3): 171-175
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0251-2432 PMID: 1418330 Document Number: 335457
The article describes a health insurance scheme covering a group of villages in India, whereby the community contributes according to people's ability to pay and participates in decision making and the supervision of village health workers, and where services are provided according to need. The scheme has been initiated by Kasturba Hospital in Sevagram. Most contributions are made in the form of sorghum and contributors are entitled to free primary care and subsidized referral care. The aim is to generate demand for a service of high quality. More than 75% of the villages in the area have enrolled in the scheme over the last 10 years, with poorer people joining more readily than the better-off members of the community. The scheme has yielded many of the expected benefits and its financing system works well. However, there is still some scope for improvement, for example, in the area of communications and transport in emergency situations, which could further benefit the health situation.