What is it about?
This study examines why people in poor rural communities join voluntary micro health insurance schemes. Instead of focusing only on individual decisions, it finds that group discussions and consensus among neighbors or peers play a much bigger role than previously believed. The research shows that when people talk to each other and share views about healthcare quality, costs, and risks, they're more likely to make a collective decision to join insurance, especially when they feel included in the scheme's design and governance.
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Why is it important?
Health insurance is vital to protect families from financial ruin due to illness. Yet, in many developing countries, most people working in the informal sector remain uninsured, even when insurance is available. Traditional economic models assume people decide on their own whether to join. But in these settings, trust, peer influence, and shared understanding matter more. This study shows that promoting dialogue within communities can dramatically increase participation. It offers a new, bottom-up strategy for extending Universal Health Coverage (UHC) where governments have struggled to reach people.
Perspectives
For policymakers: Focus on social processes, not just prices or subsidies. For development partners: Support structures that enhance local participation and trust. For academics: This work challenges classical models of individual utility by proposing a consensus-based theory of demand under conditions of informality and poverty. For practitioners: Design insurance schemes with communities, not just for them.
Dr David Mark Dror
Micro Insurance Academy
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The effect of consensus on demand for voluntary micro health insurance in rural India, Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, September 2018, Dove Medical Press,
DOI: 10.2147/rmhp.s170299.
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