Economic and Health Impacts of Hospitalization and Maternity Insurance in India
Last registered on April 10, 2018
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information
General Information
Title
Economic and Health Impacts of Hospitalization and Maternity Insurance in India
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000330
Initial registration date
April 28, 2014
Last updated
April 10, 2018 12:19 PM EDT
Location(s)
Country
India
Region
Karnataka
Primary Investigator
Name
Esther Duflo
Affiliation
MIT
Contact Primary Investigator
Other Primary Investigator(s)
PI Name
Richard Hornbeck
PI Affiliation
Harvard
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Abhijit Banerjee
PI Affiliation
MIT
Contact Investigator
Additional Trial Information
Status
Completed
Start date
2006-12-01
End date
2014-06-01
Keywords
Finance & Microfinance, Health
Additional Keywords
health insurance
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Microfinance institutions have started to bundle their basic loans with other financial services, such as health insurance. Using a randomized control trial in Karnataka, India, this project evaluates the impact of mandating the purchase of actuarially-fair health insurance covering hospitalization and maternity expenses on health and financial outcomes.

As bundling loans with insurance led to a decline in the renewal of microfinance loans, with many clients preferring to give up microfinance than to pay higher interest rates and receive insurance, we also examine the effects of non-renewal.


External Link(s)
Registration Citation
Citation
Banerjee, Abhijit, Esther Duflo and Richard Hornbeck. 2018. "Economic and Health Impacts of Hospitalization and Maternity Insurance in India." AEA RCT Registry. April 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.330-3.0.
Former Citation
Banerjee, Abhijit et al. 2018. "Economic and Health Impacts of Hospitalization and Maternity Insurance in India." AEA RCT Registry. April 10. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/330/history/27900.
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details
Interventions
Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2007-06-01
Intervention End Date
2009-03-31
Primary Outcomes
Primary Outcomes (end points)
Loan renewal, insurance usage, household health and financial outcomes.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Secondary Outcomes
Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Experimental Design
Experimental Design
In June 2007, SKS Microfinance, which at the time was the largest MFI in India, began to require clients in 101 villages to purchase health insurance at the time of renewing loans. The 101 villages were selected randomly from a list of 201 candidate villages. Clients in the remaining 100 villages were not offered or required to purchase health insurance from SKS. The random selection of villages into the treatment group allows for the identification of causal effects of the insurance requirement by comparing outcomes between the selected and not selected.

We collected detailed baseline data on a random sample of SKS client households in treatment and control villages prior to the intervention. This baseline survey was complemented by a survey of major health events among clients during the intervention and an endline survey after the intervention ended and the purchase of insurance was no longer mandatory. In addition to survey data, we received detailed administrative data from SKS on clients' loan history and health insurance usage.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by computer program on Stata.
Randomization Unit
Village
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes
Experiment Characteristics
Sample size: planned number of clusters
Approximately 7,000 households in 201 village clusters.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 36,000 adults in 7,000 households.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
101 villages treatment, 100 villages control.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB
INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARDS (IRBs)
IRB Name
MIT Committee on the Use of Humans as Experimental Subjects
IRB Approval Date
2006-10-19
IRB Approval Number
0609001924
IRB Name
Harvard Committee on the Use of Human Subjects in Research
IRB Approval Date
2012-02-09
IRB Approval Number
F18180-103
Analysis Plan
Analysis Plan Documents
MHE_AnalysisPlan_8Feb2012.docx

MD5: f8c10503a7c0e4fa76c03c978030cc5c

SHA1: 960129f93caff2a73bfc55593c5736a063d7014b

Uploaded At: May 16, 2014

Post-Trial
Post Trial Information
Study Withdrawal
Intervention
Is the intervention completed?
No
Is data collection complete?
Data Publication
Data Publication
Is public data available?
No
Program Files
Program Files
Reports and Papers
Preliminary Reports
Relevant Papers