Impact of Micro Health Insurance on the Well-being of Underprivileged Groups in Bangladesh

Abstract

Micro Health Insurance has been a very popular means of paving the
way for the safety of the health-related issues of low-income group of people in
developing countries like Bangladesh. Officially launched in 1997, Grameen
Kalyan has introduced Micro Health Insurance to offer low-cost healthcare
services to the people. The use of such insurance facility may have an impact on
its members’ well-being. Hence, this study attempts to investigate the impact of
such facility on the members’ well-being and to identify constraints of availing
such facility. The Capability Approach developed by Nobel Laureate and
renowned economist Dr. Amartya Sen (1993) was used as the theoretical
underpinning to measure the well-being of the underprivileged groups. Overall,
the study findings provided insights that Grameen Kalyan contributed to
improving different dimensions of its members’ well-being.