Does health insurance improve health?: Evidence from a randomized community-based insurance rollout in rural Burkina Faso.

Highlights: [•] In 2004, a community-based insurance (CBI) scheme was introduced in Nouna health district, Burkina Faso. [•] We use six years of panel data to evaluate the welfare and health impact of the insurance scheme exploring the random rollout of the program as exogenous source of variation. [•] The average reductions in health expenditure among insurance enrollees are small. [•] The insurance scheme induced a temporary increase in mortality among older community members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]