Innovations in health care financing: New evidence on the prospect of community health insurance schemes in the rural areas of Ethiopia

It has become clear that due to market failure, state failure, and other reasons, the conventional sources of finance alone could not solve the health problem of the rural population, particularly that of the socially excluded and disadvantaged groups. Community Based Health Insurance Schemes (CBHIS) are one of the most recently mentioned options to narrow the existing inequalities in access to basic health services. This study assesses the prospect of CBHIS in the rural areas of Ethiopia using a double bounded dichotomous contingent valuation method. The results show that even in one of the poorest countries of the world, there is a promising prospect to introduce CBHIS. © Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005.