Summary (English)

Colombia's rapid health insurance expansion in the 1990s provides an opportunity for evaluating whether health insurance coverage for the poor through its Subsidized Regime (SR) improved health outcomes for newborns and increased access of pregnant mothers to medical personnel and facilities. While the institutional context is particular to the Colombian reform, the broader conclusions on the impact of health insurance provision to the poor on newborn health, can be of interest to other developing countries which are thinking of adopting similar health care reforms using targeting systems to identify beneficiaries.