Mobile healthcare in Africa: serving populations, saving lives. WHO, 2014.

The latest installment of the HFG Project’s Mobile Money Newsletter highlights mobile microinsurance in the context of health. Mobile microinsurance is broadly defined as any microinsurance product that leverages mobile channels. CGAP has identified 84+ examples of mobile microinsurance which are creating innovative insurance products and business models driven by insurers, mobile network operators (MNOs), and other groups (such as banks, governments, and third party players).

Health microinsurance schemes seek to provide financial protection and improved access to health care for the poor. By incorporating mobile aspects, health microinsurance programs can both reduce costs for participants and address challenges associated with scaling up services. Mobile phones can be used to help with client enrollment and facilitate payment of claims. Mobile money platforms offer health microsinsurance schemes a convenient mechanism for collecting and managing premiums from populations in remote and hard to reach areas.

Some health microinsurance schemes that incorporate mobile money include:

• Nigeria’s Y’ello, part of national efforts to achieve universal health coverage (UHC)
• The Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU) health plan in Tanzania
• Pona na Tigo Bima in Ghana
• Kenya’s Linda Jamii
• l’Union Technique de la Mutualité Malienne in Mali

Additional resources on mobile money + micro insurance:

• Leveraging Mobile Money for Health Insurance (IDEO)
• Technology Roll-Out, Mobile Savings and Credit, Investing in Microinsurance (CFI)
• Designing Mobile Microinsurance Products: Premium Payment Methods (CGAP)
• Human-Centered Design and Microinsurance (CGAP)

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