Title: Demand for micro-insurance of health among informal workers: a discrete choice experiment in India

Authors: Souvik Dasgupta; Amit Kundu

Addresses: Department of Economics, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Purulia, West Bengal, India ' Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Abstract: Micro-Insurance of Health (MHI) is considered as one of the possible instruments in reducing impoverishing effects of catastrophic out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure for the households in lower-income strata of the developing countries. MHI schemes can complement a publicly funded healthcare system within a specific local context. The present study attempts to investigate the demand for MHI among informal workforce using a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE). In any DCE application we can determine the characteristics that describe a product and to what extent the respondent is willing to trade-off one characteristic to another. Our DCE in West Bengal (India) suggests that, any MHI scheme with low premium, transport coverage, full family coverage, cash-back facility and comprehensive benefit will encourage enrolment.

Keywords: healthcare expenditure; micro-insurance of health; discrete choice experiment; informal sector; choice under uncertainty; NGO; community participation; West Bengal.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBHR.2019.106990

International Journal of Behavioural and Healthcare Research, 2019 Vol.7 No.1, pp.1 - 19

Received: 18 Oct 2019
Accepted: 17 Jan 2020
Published online: 29 Apr 2020 *

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