Resource Type: Brief
Authors: Health Finance and Governance (HFG)
Published: 7/1/2013

Resource Description:

Mobile phone-based financial transactions, commonly referred to as mobile money, promote financial inclusion and can be used to address key financial barriers to health care access for the poor, such as high out-of-pocket spending costs and prohibitive transportation costs to health facilities, especially in rural areas. Mobile money can help reduce these barriers by facilitating enrollment in insurance programs through flexible mobile phone-based premium collections for populations in hard to reach areas and flexible payment options to cover costs for transportation. Mobile money can be used in health savings account systems, providing a way for the poor to save for health care costs. At the provider level, mobile money has shown promise in facilitating claims payments, salary payments for health workers, and voucher reimbursement, which can enable health programs to expand reach to remote areas and increase access to care.