Author(s)
Anup Malani
Phoebe Holtzman
Kosuke Imai
Cynthia Kinnan
Morgen Miller
Shailender Swaminathan
Alessandra Voena
Bartosz Woda
Gabriella Conti
We report on a large randomized controlled trial of hospital insurance for above-poverty-line Indian households. Households were assigned to free insurance, sale of insurance, sale plus cash transfer, or control. To estimate spillovers, the fraction of households offered insurance varied across villages. The opportunity to purchase insurance led to 59.91% uptake and access to free insurance to 78.71% uptake. Access increased insurance utilization. Positive spillover effects on utilization suggest learning from peers. Many beneficiaries were unable to use insurance, demonstrating hurdles to expanding access via insurance. Across a range of health measures, we estimate no significant impacts on health.
Publication Type
Working Paper
File Description
First version, December 2021
JEL Codes
I13: Health Insurance, Public and Private
C93: Field Experiments
I14: Health and Inequality
Keywords
randomized control trials
hospital insurance
India
peer effects
Spillover effects