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Discuss: Health Insurance for the Urban Poor

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On Wednesday, May 19, Asher Hasan discussed Naya Jeevan, a social enterprise that is dedicated to rejuvenating the lives of low-income families throughout the emerging world by providing them with affordable access to quality, catastrophic healthcare. The California-based not-for-profit offers its insurance program at subsidized rates under a novel national group health insurance mode.

Share your thoughts: Assuming that the cost of quality health insurance in the developing world is very cheap (e.g. Less than $1.50/adult/month), do corporations have a social or moral obligation to provide health insurance to a) uninsured, contract workers in their supply chains (raw material providers, distributors, retailers) or the informal household  staff of their own employees (e.g. driver, maid, cook)? What about the employee’s spouse and children?

Join the discussion below.

S Acharia | 05:21:10 02:13am
Best wishes for the Great endeavour. My experience shows that for eradicating child labour one needs to attack two fronts i.e. health issues & economic security. A child is given birth for two reasons i.e. extra earning member (from 5 years onward) and security for old age. My suggestion will be to look for combining micro-insurance with micro- finance (for promoting grass root level entrepreneurship) to develop a viable ecosystem. You should also link it with education system where vocational training can be provided. Last but not the least the system has to be ran and managed by local community for it growth and prosperity (community run / SHG).
Asher Hasan | 05:16:10 01:56pm
While infant-child mortality rates in Pakistan and India remain unacceptably high, the ‘indentured’ children that survive in urban and peri-urban slums often serve as child-labor in quasi-apprenticeship roles (auto-workshops, factories,etc), deprived of formal primary education and quality healthcare. Many of them are forced to work through the sheer harsh reality that their impoverished families cannot survive financially and existentially. Many of the female children are simply married off at a premature age in order to alleviate the financial burden of the primary caretakers. Languishing in menial jobs, the spirit of these children is often extinguished at an early age, leaving them devoid of hope and the career opportunities needed to extract themselves from this vicious cycle of poverty.

At NAYA JEEVAN, we have observed that a significant portion of child labor is associated with financially crippling debts that have been imposed on low-income families due to their inability to pay for major medical events (pregnancy complications, surgeries, trauma, etc). Our theory of change is that if we can provide a protective ecosystem to low-income families through affordable health insurance coupled to other social services, we should see a corresponding reduction in child labor over time.

What are your thoughts on this approach? Do you think this could be an effective part of an overarching strategy to combat poverty and the social malaise that is associated with it?
Alexia Kim | 05:25:10 03:00pm
To answer your question: Yes. Although on the scale of effectiveness in combating poverty, I wonder if the deprivation of basic education is the more pressing deficiency that keeps a society entrapped in the cycle of poverty. Aside from the thought, it's truly marvelous to see your organization existing to help those who have no helper in a real and tangible way. Thank you!
Hassan Abbas | 05:18:10 03:35pm
Great initiative Asher. South Asia desperately needs such ideas and efforts.

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