Impact of Micro-insurance on Financial Outcomes and Health Decisions: Evidence from Rwanda

The paper assesses the impact of Mutuelles de Sante; a nationwide community-based health insurance scheme in Rwanda, on financial outcomes and health decisions. It makes use of the Rwandan Integrated Living Conditions Survey... [ view full abstract ]

The paper assesses the impact of Mutuelles de Sante; a nationwide community-based health insurance scheme in Rwanda, on financial outcomes and health decisions. It makes use of the Rwandan Integrated Living Conditions Survey data from 2005-06 and 2010-11. Using instrument variable estimation and propensity score matching the results suggest that there is positive impact of the micro-insurance scheme on financial outcomes such as formal savings. The results indicate improvement in the debt conditions of the insured, reduction in borrowings and a significant decline in direct medical costs borne through Out of Pocket expenses. We find no significant result for the impact of health micro-insurance on the investment and the sale of assets. For the health-decisions, we find that there is a higher rate of reporting of illness and formal consulting with increasing intensity of insurance at the household level.