Pioneering disaster insurance for some of India’s poorest
Leading aid agency CARE International and Allianz are offering a new type of community health insurance in an area of southern India badly hit by the 2004 tsunami. For the first time ever, poor people in India can buy comprehensive health insurance, through an innovative scheme put together by an aid agency and a private insurer. The community-based health insurance scheme run by CARE International and Allianz offers coverage packages which protect people against natural catastrophes or accidents for well under ten cents a month — an affordable rate even for those who earn less than two euros a day. CARE and Allianz are offering the products in an area hit by the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, in four regions south of the city of Chennai, where CARE works. Within a year, CARE and Allianz expect to have up to 200,000 customers aged 18 to 70 buying the microinsurance coverage. Unlike other microinsurance products sold to poor communities in India, and around the world, Allianz — together with its Indian joint-venture partner, Bajaj Allianz — and CARE are offering bespoke, rather than off-the-shelf products, to this vulnerable group of people. The communities themselves have been involved in designing the new policies, which will cover death, medical treatment for injuries in accidents, help with funeral costs and hospital expenses, as well as paying wages during illness. Image source: allianz.com. > Continue.
News selected by Covalence | Country: India
