Health insurance, a friend in need? Impacts of formal insurance and crowding out of informal insurance

Vista sencilla de ítem
dc.creatorGeng, Xin
dc.creatorJanssens, Wendy
dc.creatorKramer, Berber
dc.creatorvan der List, Marijn
dc.date2018-08-15
dc.date2024-06-21T09:11:23Z
dc.date2024-06-21T09:11:23Z
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-27T15:30:02Z
dc.descriptionHealth insurance can improve health-seeking behaviors and protect consumption from health shocks but may also crowd out informal insurance. This paper therefore examines whether impacts of health insurance depend on households’ access to informal insurance, as proxied for by mobile money usage. Based on high-frequency financial diaries data collected in rural Kenya, we find that households with weaker access to informal insurance cope with uninsured health shocks by lowering subsequent non-health expenditures by approximately 25 percent. These same households are able to smooth consumption when health shocks are insured, due to lower out-of-pocket health expenditures. In contrast, households with access to informal insurance are able to smooth consumption even in the absence of formal health insurance. For this latter group, health insurance increases healthcare utilization at formal clinics and does not crowd out gifts and remittances during weeks with health shocks. These findings provide guidance for insurance schemes aiming to target the most vulnerable populations.
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/147115
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/106262
dc.languageen
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.relationhttps://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133514
dc.relationhttps://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czz172
dc.rightsOpen Access
dc.sourceGeng, Xin; Janssens, Wendy; Kramer, Berber; and van der List, Marijn. 2018. Health insurance, a friend in need? Impacts of formal insurance and crowding out of informal insurance. World Development 111(November 2018): 196-210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.07.004
dc.subjectinsurance
dc.subjectinformal sector
dc.subjectrural population
dc.subjectlow income groups
dc.subjecthealth insurance
dc.subjectshock
dc.subjecthousehold expenditure
dc.subjectcapacity development
dc.subjecthealth care
dc.titleHealth insurance, a friend in need? Impacts of formal insurance and crowding out of informal insurance
dc.typeJournal Article

Archivos

Colecciones

Instituto Internacional de Investigación sobre Políticas Alimentarias (IFPRI)