Building awareness to health insurance among the target population of community‐based health insurance schemes in rural India

Objective To evaluate an insurance awareness campaign carried out before the launch of three community‐based health insurance (CBHI) schemes in rural India, answering the questions: Has the awareness campaign been successful in enhancing participants’ understanding of health insurance? What awareness tools were most useful from the participants' point of view? Has enhanced awareness resulted in higher enrolment? Methods Data for this analysis originates from a baseline survey (2010) and a follow‐up survey (2011) of more than 800 households in the pre‐ and post‐campaign periods. We used the difference‐in‐differences method to evaluate the impact of awareness activities on insurance understanding. Assessment of usefulness of various tools was carried out based on respondents’ replies regarding the tool(s) they enjoyed and found most useful. An ordinary least square regression analysis was conducted to understand whether insurance knowledge and CBHI understanding are related with enrolment in CBHI. Results The intervention cohort demonstrated substantially higher understanding of insurance concepts than the control group, and CBHI understanding was a positive determinant for enrolment. Respondents considered the ‘Treasure‐Pot’ tool (an interactive game) as most useful in enhancing awareness to the effects of insurance. Conclusions We conclude that awareness‐raising is an important prerequisite for voluntary uptake of CBHI schemes and that interactive, contextualised awareness tools are useful in enhancing insurance understanding. Objectif Evaluer une campagne de sensibilisation à l'assurance menée avant le lancement de trois schémas d'assurance de santé communautaire (ASC) en zone rurale en Inde, en répondant aux questions suivantes: La campagne de sensibilisation a‐t‐elle réussi à améliorer la compréhension de l'assurance maladie par les participants ? Quels outils de sensibilisation ont été les plus utiles du point de vue des participants ? La sensibilisation renforcée a‐t‐elle abouti à une inscription plus élevée ? Méthodes Les données pour cette analyse proviennent d'une enquête de référence (2010) et une enquête de suivi (2011) de plus de 800 ménages dans les périodes pré‐ et post‐campagne. Nous avons utilisé la méthode de la différence des différences pour évaluer l'impact des activités de sensibilisation sur la compréhension de l'assurance. L’évaluation de l'utilité de divers outils a été effectuée sur la base des réponses des répondants au sujet des o