Summary (English)

The pre-appraisal report on the Microinsurance Innovations Project in the Philippines deals with the background and situation of microinsurance in the Philippines as well as proposing recommendations for its evolution. The microinsurance approach has developed a number of innovative and promising features in the country such as a regulatory framework developed by a visionary Insurance Commission which is continuously being adapted; emerging and increasingly competitive microfinance and insurance sectors that motivate MFIs to diversify their products and services, etc. An estimated 76% of the population is already enrolled in PhilHealth and some progress has been made by PhilHealth to enrol those defined as poor in order to achieve its mandate of universal coverage. However, despite these efforts, almost all those left without any kind of insurance are in the informal economy, and the existing social insurance schemes fail to cover them. Indeed, few commercial health service actors provide health insurance to the disadvantaged or the informal sector. Moreover the new provider type MicroInsurance MBA has rapidly and efficiently expanded over the past years but its sustainability remains a major challenge. While PhilHealth is attempting more aggressively to reach out to informal economy workers, this document argues that microinsurance should become an integrated part of the strategy of the German and Philippine Development Co-operation in the focal area. Indeed, it recommends that the German Development Cooperation implements a new ¿Microinsurance Innovation PROJECT (MIP)¿ to support microinsurance with various partners via technical assistance.