The Impact of Community Based Health Insurance Schemes on Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Spending: Evidence from Rwanda

Andinet Woldemichael, Daniel Gurara and Abebe Abebe

No 2019/038, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Achieving universal health coverage, including financial risk protection and access to quality essential health-care services, is one of the main Sustainable Development Goals. In low-income countries, innovative and affordable health financing systems are key to realize these goals. This paper assesses the impacts of Community-Based Health Insurance Scheme in Rwanda on health-related financial risks using a nationally representative household survey data collected over a ten-year period. We find that the scheme significantly reduce annual per capita out-of-pocket spending by about 3,600 Rwandan Franc (about US$12) or about 83 percent of average per capita healthcare expenditure compared to the baseline level in 2000.The impacts however favor the rich as compared to the poor. The program also reduces the incidence of catastrophic healthcare spending significantly.

Keywords: WP; normal distribution; sensitivity analysis; Healthcare spending; health insurance; low-income; Rwanda; CBHI scheme; CBHI enrollment; CBHI member household; CBHI effect; CBHI membership rate; Insurance; Income; Consumption; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38
Date: 2019-02-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-hea, nep-ias and nep-mfd
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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