Economic and psychological effects of health insurance and cash transfers: Evidence from a randomized experiment in Kenya

We use a randomized experiment in Nairobi to compare the effect of free health insurance to an unconditional cash transfer of the same value and a control group. Despite high baseline rates of injury and illness, the median insurance taker does not use the insurance. We observe no significant effects of either insurance or cash on economic outcomes, self-reported health, and healthcare utilization. We find some evidence that the provision of...