SKY Health Insurance Program

“SKY” Health Insurance Program of Cambodia
Developing Health Insurance to Reduce the Impact of Health Problems on Poor and Vulnerable Households

Objectives of SKY Health Insurance

Secure the assets and incomes of vulnerable Cambodian households by limiting the economic consequences of large health expenditures.
Facilitate and encourage access for these households to quality health care, both at primary and secondary levels, to prevent severe health risks.

Background

GRET is a French NGO which has been active in Cambodia since the late 1980s, and in 1991 launched a microfinance program that has turned into a financially viable, legally recognized institution called AMRET, now covering around 150,000 clients in 11 provinces of rural Cambodia.

GRET learned that health insurance would be an appropriate means of protection for those poor households: several studies confirmed that health risks are a leading predictor of poverty for rural households in Cambodia, a country where health conditions are among the worst and families invest the most in care.

GRET launched an experimental rural health insurance program in 1998 to enable families to cover health care costs without risking impoverishment.

The program is called “SKY”, a Khmer acronym of "Sokhapheap Krousar Yeung", “Health for Our Families.”