Kliniken &… Institute Heidelberger Institut… Groups & Projects Working Groups Research RSBY India

Impact evaluation of RSBY in India

Principal investigator: Manuela De Allegri, IPH Heidelberg

Funding: Indo-German Cooperation (GiZ)

Partners:
Dr Abhijit Khanvilkar, Prognosis, Pune, India
Dr Nishant Jain & Dr Urvashi Chandra, GiZ India, New Delhi, India
Dr Divya Parmar, Lecturer/Assistant Professor, School of Health Sciences, City University London

Project description:
Worldwide, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) represents the largest attempt to implement a mechanism of social health protection targeting the poor. The scheme, which is implemented by the Ministry of Labor in India with technical support from GiZ, targets the Indian population below the poverty line, offering coverage for inpatient care at contracted private health facilities.

Our team, in close collaboration with Prognosis – an Indian consultancy firm specialized in implementation research – and GiZ India is charged of the impact evaluation of the scheme. The evaluation aims at assessing the impact of membership on health service utilization (inpatient and outpatient, for acute and chronic conditions) and household healthcare expenditure. In addition, the evaluation follows patterns of enrolment over time, to assess whether the scheme effectively reaches the ultra-poor. Additional research is planned to assess the welfare gains of the program, measured in terms of its impact on additional dimensions of social life, such as reductions in child labor and increased schooling due to increased social health protection.

The evaluation is based on the collection and analysis of six rounds of a household panel survey conducted on an overall sample of 4,000 households distributed in four States.

The scientific competence is provided by the Health Economics and Financing team, but administrative support for the project is managed through our sister consulting agency, Evaplan.

Status: ongoing

Contact: Manuela De Allegri (manuela.de.allegri@urz.uni-heidelberg.de)