Emerging Trends in Health Insurance for Low-Income Groups

This paper provides a brief overview of the existing forms of and emerging trends in health insurance for the low-income segment in India. Three conditions essential for extending health insurance to low-income groups are presented. Based on the early evidence of universal health insurance as well as on the UNDP-sponsored health insurance pilots, some lessons on design of insurance are drawn. Finally, the current debate on micro-insurance is summarised and some relevant lessons for policy are drawn.