Faculty Publications

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    Health seeking behavior in Karnataka: Does micro-health insurance matter?
    (2013) Basri, S.; Kiran, K.
    Background: Health seeking behaviour in the event of illness is influenced by the availability of good health care facilities and health care financing mechanisms. Micro health insurance not only promotes formal health care utilization at private providers but also reduces the cost of care by providing the insurance coverage. Objectives: This paper explores the impact of Sampoorna Suraksha Programme, a micro health insurance scheme on the health seeking behaviour of households during illness in Karnataka, India. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in three randomly selected districts in Karnataka, India in the first half of the year 2011. The hypothesis was tested using binary logistic regression analysis on the data collected from randomly selected 1146 households consisting of 4961 individuals. Results: Insured individuals were seeking care at private hospitals than public hospitals due to the reduction in financial barrier. Moreover, equity in health seeking behaviour among insured individuals was observed. Conclusion : Our finding does represent a desirable result for health policy makers and micro finance institutions to advocate for the inclusion of health insurance in their portfolio, at least from the HSB perspective.
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    Illness Makes Credit Sick: Can Health Insurance Rescue the Poor from Exploitative Credit
    (Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Houndmills Basingstoke, Hants. RG21 6XS, 2016) Basri, B.; Kiran, K.B.
    Health shocks cripple poor households through hardship financing and impoverishment. Borrowing from non-market sources is the most common strategy used by these households, which eventually pushes them into a debt trap. Micro health insurance (MHI) is expected to reduce the reliance on these sources of finance by ensuring financial protection. We use the data from a cross-sectional study undertaken in Karnataka to investigate any association between MHI and non-market credit during health shocks. The sample size was 1,146 consisting of 416 insured households and the remaining being uninsured. The analysis of the data shows inadequate risk protection provided by MHI giving rise to borrowing, sale of assets and liquidation of savings by insured individuals. Yet, they relied less on usurious credit compared with uninsured individuals. This finding not only substantiates the importance of MHI in health-care financing but also highlights the need for affordable and comprehensive financing mechanisms to replace non-market institutions with formal insurance. © 2016 The International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics 1018-5895/16.