Reducing Health Inequalities Role of Community Based Health Insurance Schemes; Evidence from India and Ethiopia

People must be healthy to contribute to the economic development of a nation. Promoting and protecting health is essential to human welfare. But many times governments fail to guarantee universal coverage to citizens mainly because of insufficient public health funds. Equity has been considered as an important issue in health sector. Yet an inequality between the poor and the better off persists in almost all developing countries. Health insurance is a health care financing mechanism to reduce health inequalities, improve access to quality health care and reduces financial burden of households when they are sick. Past few decades government of India introduced various demand side health insurance schemes to protect poor and vulnerable population who are in informal sector from major health shocks. Four major health insurance schemes are making significant change in health insurance coverage scenario in India and becoming a role model for developing countries. In Ethiopia currently health insurance coverage is around 1.1% only. So government introduced a comprehensive health insurance scheme for poor and is on pilot stage in four regions of the country. This case study is trying to get lessons and challenges of CBHI Schemes from India and Ethiopia.