Can community health insurance schemes shield the poor against the downside health effects of economic reforms? The case of rural Ethiopia

Using household level data and double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation method, the article investigates the prospect of community health insurance schemes in mitigating the health shock effects of economic reforms and deregulations on the poor rural households of Ethiopia. The results demonstrate that the introduction of such schemes can help to protect the poor against the adverse impacts of economic reforms on health. It is also demonstrated that enough and sustainable resources can be generated from such schemes without obstructing the current economic reforms and evicting the poor and the socially disadvantaged section of the population out of the health care market. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.