MicroEnsure currently offers insurance to more than one million policyholders in five countries, and in June 2010, it was named the runner-up for the Financial Times‘s prestigious Sustainable Banking Award for Banking at the Base of the Pyramid.
Insurance
When her 18-month-old baby Palak needed care for malnutrition, Deepa Kahar (right) of Maharastra, India, was relieved that her Opportunity health insurance covered the treatment and medicine. Palak’s parents barely earn enough to live on and could not afford healthcare if not for MicroEnsure (learn more about MicroEnsure...).
Why Insurance?
Consider what it would be like to have a sick child, like Deepa, but not enough money to pay for treatment. Or to have the maize crop that your family relies on for food and income decimated during periods of drought. What our clients need is a better way to protect themselves when tough times arrive. That’s why Opportunity banks and financial institutions partner with our wholly-owned microinsurance subsidiary, MicroEnsure, or with local insurance providers, to provide products that reduce our clients’ vulnerability.
MicroEnsure works with local insurance company partners and other stakeholders to develop an expanding range of products to meet the specific needs of people living in poverty. Innovative products cover policyholders with crop, loan, health, life and property insurance–offering clients a safety net when an unexpected hardship or disaster occurs. Products include:
- Affordable term life insurance available for the first time exclusively to people living in poverty. Premiums average about $1.50 per month for a family of five.
- Health insurance for the economically marginalized, including people with HIV/AIDS. In India, premiums of just $8 per year can provide inpatient hospital treatment on a cashless basis for India’s most impoverished families. This insurance covers pre-existing illness and allows clients to pay premiums weekly.
- Credit life insurance protects loan clients’ families and lending institutions in the event of a loan recipient’s death.
- Weather-indexed crop insurance that mitigates the devastating consequences of drought or excess rain. Crop insurance enables farmers to access credit for high quality seed and fertilizer, while mitigating banks’ risk of default due to weather extremes. The insurance makes it possible for banks to make agricultural loans that they might otherwise view as too risky. As a result, farmers are not only protected from loss, but are able to realize a significant increase in food production.
Download "Insuring Against Life's Risks" to learn more.
