Strengthening Micro Health Insurance Units for the Poor in India

Strengthening Micro Health Insurance Units for the Poor in India - Better Health through more Equity in the Access to Health Care!«Myths and realities regarding health insurance for the poorAn article published in Economic and Political Weekly captures in a nutshell the myths and realities in health insruance for the poor in India. The article, written by the project's lead expert Prof. David Dror, confronts prevailing myths in India with evidence from this project's survey. The article can be downloaded here.Developing Pro-Poor Health Insurance in India - An International Conference on Micro Health InsuranceA Conference for Community Organizations and Policy Makers took place at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on November 1st and 2nd 2006. The aim of the conference was to disseminate new information on the contribution of community health financing toward low-cost health insurance for poor and rural population segments in India.Find more information here. [Download brochure.] A docmentation will follow soon; presentations can be downloaded in the programme section.President Dr. Abdul Kalam supports pro-needy health insuranceHis Excellency Dr. Abdul Kalam granted an audience to members of the project team on 30 October 2006. The President expressed his support for the development of pro-needy health insurance.

The president said that the future of development activities, notably health insurance in rural areas, lies in integrating them into community structures.The UN wants insurance companies to help protect the world's poor against the impacts of climate change.Insurance-based schemes could make money available to affected communities much faster than traditional aid, its climate meeting in Nairobi was told.A pilot project in Ethiopia earlier this year insured 62,000 rural families against drought.Computer models of climate change suggest droughts and floods will become more common across Africa.

Current extreme weather events on the continent affect most severely the livelihoods of people with no access to conventional insurance."Every year, the World Bank donates millions in order to repair events and to repair disasters; and we need a step change in the way we manage relief for poorer parts of the world," said Thomas Loster of the Munich Re Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation linked to the re-insurance giant."Through public-private partnerships that match seed money from public sources with the skills of the private sector, I believe we can do this by realising new kinds of risk cover across large parts of the developing world."Poor harvestThe pilot project in Ethiopia shows how such schemes could work in practice.Using money provided by the US government, the Ethiopian administration and other donors, the World Food Programme (WFP) brokered a deal with the Axa Re insurance company to obtain cover for 62,000 rural families against drought.The insurers agreed that below a certain minimum of rainfall, they would pay $7m within a matter of days, to be spent on food aid or payments to farmers. The premium paid was $930,000.As it happened, rainfall stayed above the threshold, and Axa Re kept its money. But WFP's Peter Smerdon believes the project shows how poor communities can gain relief quickly."The big advantage is it's much faster," he told BBC News."Normally, you see a disaster coming, you wait for it to get there, you go and assess the damage, you go and see what you need, you appeal to donors, you have to get the food and assistance in there; and that can take months."By that time, he observed, farmers might have lost their livestock, sold their farming equipment, and eaten their seeds.Subsequently, they must rely on international assistance to restore living standards, which is much more expensive in the long run as well as much more damaging to people's lives.

CORPORATE FINANCE

Corporate finance is an area of finance dealing with the financial decisions corporations make and the tools and analysis used to make these decisions. The primary goal of corporate finance is to enhance corporate value while reducing the firm's financial risks. Equivalently, the goal is to maximize the corporations' return to capital. Although it is in principle different from managerial finance which studies the financial decisions of all firms, rather than corporations alone, the main concepts in the study of corporate finance are applicable to the financial problems of all kinds of firms.

The discipline can be divided into long-term and short-term decisions and techniques. Capital investment decisions are long-term choices about which projects receive investment, whether to finance that investment with equity or debt, and when or whether to pay dividends to shareholders. On the other hand, the short term decisions can be grouped under the heading "Working capital management". This subject deals with the short-term balance of current assets and current liabilities; the focus here is on managing cash, inventories, and short-term borrowing and lending (such as the terms on credit extended to customers).

The terms Corporate finance and Corporate financier are also associated with investment banking. The typical role of an investment banker is to evaluate investment projects for a bank to make investment decisions.

Secured Loans – Put Your Home’s Equity At Work To Cash Out Money

My family was desperate to make big changes at home. But, I couldn’t fulfill their desires due to lack of sufficient funds. It was only at that time I got to know about secured loan that gave me a ray of hope and helped me in making my family’s small dreams come true.Secured loans are the loans that require a borrower to put a security against the loan. Your home, car or even a saving account can work as collateral. The loan money you get can be used for any purpose you desire. You can use it to buy your dream car, to finance a luxurious holiday, to make desired improvements in your home or for any personal purpose.With a secured loan, borrowers get an opportunity to make use of the equity in their property without selling it.

Usually, secured loans are offered in a range of £5000 to £75000. Some lenders may grant you a loan of up to 125% of the property value.The amount you can borrow with a secured loan depends on the value of your property, your ability to repay the loan and your personal circumstances. Loan term of a secured loan varies from 5 to 25 years, depending on your credit score and the amount of loan you are looking for.There are various benefits attached to secured loans. They facilitate borrowers to design their own loan package, you can opt for either a fixed rate secured loan or adjustable rate secured loan. In case of a fixed rate secured loan, the rate of interest is fixed in the beginning and remains the same throughout the loan term.While, in case of adjustable or flexible rate secured loan, the rate of interest varies with the market rate of interest. If you have fixed monthly income or a salaried individual, fixed rate secured loan is appropriate for you. But in case, you don’t have a regular source of income or are self employed, a flexible rate secured loan will be perfect for you helping you grab the benefits of falling interest rate.Lenders use credit check tool to find out the creditworthiness of the borrower and whether he will be able to pay the monthly installments and the loan amount or not. Knowledge of credit score will help you in negotiating with the lenders and will land you in a pool of great loan deals. If you don’t know your credit score, get it evaluated from any of the credit rating agencies but make sure that the agency is registered and is genuine. For your reference you can get your credit report from renowned credit rating agencies namely – Equifax, Experain and Transunion.Only a few years back bad credit was considered to be a blot on individual’s credit report. But, with the changing time and growing cases of bankruptcy and defaults, lenders have accepted the fact that majority of the people fall into the bad credit trap with none of their own mistake.

Keeping all this into consideration, lenders in the UK also offer secured loan to people with bad credit, reasons behind it could be a default, arrears or bankruptcy.You can also use the loan money to consolidate all your existing debts and can make them manageable with one lower monthly payment to pay each month and can get rid of all the hassles involved in dealing with number of lenders and answering their harassing calls. This can also help you in improving your credit score.Secured loans can help you in accessing the needed funds by putting your home’s equity at work. When you start searching for the secured loan, shop around! Don’t take the very first option you get. Collect loan quotes from number of lenders and compare them, this will help you in getting the best secured loan deal that perfectly suits to your needs and expectations