What is a Health Card Worth? An Evaluation of an Outpatient Health Insurance Product in Rural India

This paper presents the results of a randomized control trial that evaluated the impact of CARE Foundation´s out-patient insurance cards. The insurance product encouraged more frequent visits to community health workers, leading to earlier identification of illnesses and more timely referrals to a doctor or hospital. Since patients were treated at an earlier stage, they spent fewer days in hospital and costs were lower. In the project, community health workers were trained and deployed in villages to offer preventive care consultations, make referrals to a doctor when needed, and sell outpatient health insurance.