Sheltering the Poor against Catastrophic Healthcare Payments through Micro Insurance: Lessons from the African Experience

In a nutshell • Access to healthcare without the threat of financial ruin is a basic human right. Using recently available nationally representative surveys from Egypt, we found that out-of-pocket spending on health (OOP) has exacerbated households’ living severely in Egypt, pushing more than one-fifth of the population into a financial catastrophe and 3% into extreme poverty. • Innovations and social entrepreneurship could improve social risk management and reduce poverty. This policy brief introduces micro insurance and encourages its embracement as a viable solution to protect the poor from health risks