Utilization of Health Microinsurance in Punjab: Evidence from Focus Group Discussions

Abstract

This paper examines the social and economic effects of health microinsurance and explores potential channels through which usage can be increased using insights obtained from in-depth focus group discussions (FGD). Our main findings were as follows: (i) women are the most active users of the program with a major focus on seeking health care for maternal and gynecological conditions; (ii) The program can promote client retention, thereby offering immense benefits to the microfinance institution; (iii) Supply side constraints such as physical distance to hospitals and a dearth of listed health facilities emerge as binding constraints for program utilization and (iv) Borrowers appear to view health microinsurance as a substitute to public health, evident from a higher rate of program utilization in areas with lower levels of public health infrastructure.