INTERPRETATION Increased health insurance coverage generally appears to increase access to health care facilities , improve financial protection and improve health status , although findings are not totally consistent .
BACKGROUND Exp and ing public health insurance seeks to attain several desirable objectives , including increasing access to healthcare services , reducing the risk of catastrophic healthcare expenditures , and improving health outcomes .
The extent to which these objectives are met in a real-world policy context remains an empirical question of increasing research and policy interest in recent years .
Impact of Community-based Health Insurance on Access and Financial Protection: Evidence from Three Randomized Control Trials in Rural India.
Since the 1990s , community-based health insurance ( CBHI ) schemes have been proposed to reduce the financial consequences of illness and enhance access to healthcare in developing countries . Convincing evidence on the ability of such schemes to meet their objectives is scarce . This paper uses r and omized control trials conducted in rural Uttar Pradesh and Bihar ( India ) to evaluate the effects of three CBHI schemes on healthcare utilization and expenditure .  We find that the schemes have no effect on these outcomes . The results suggest that CBHI schemes of the type examined in this paper are unlikely to have a substantial impact on access and financial protection in developing countries . Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons ,
INTERPRETATION Increased health insurance coverage generally appears to increase access to health care facilities , improve financial protection and improve health status , although findings are not totally consistent .
BACKGROUND Exp and ing public health insurance seeks to attain several desirable objectives , including increasing access to healthcare services , reducing the risk of catastrophic healthcare expenditures , and improving health outcomes .
The extent to which these objectives are met in a real-world policy context remains an empirical question of increasing research and policy interest in recent years .