1. Mrs. Chan Hy and her family live in SdoaPok village, ChhouyNeang Noun Commune,
SreySnam District, Siem Reap Province. She and her family arefarmers and they live with her
daughter and her family, making a household with 6 members in total.
In early January 2012, a scheme promoter from the Cambodian Health Committee (CHC) in
KralanhOD conducted an awareness promotion for Community Based Health Insurance
(CBHI). Mrs. Chan Hy joined the promotion but only enrolled her daughter’s family because
her daughter was pregnant andshe knewthat the scheme would help her daughter
duringthedelivery. The scheme did cover all the fees incurred including transportation of her
daughter, however unfortunately, a few months later a cruel accident took place whereby her
15 year old son,SokSametage, crashed a small truck (a kouryunmachine) into a tree near her
house. He suffered an injury to his abdomenfor which he required surgery, and needed to
betransferred to Siem Reap Provincial Hospital. Her family didn’t have the money to pay for
his treatment and fees, so Mrs Chan Hy decided to borrow from her neighbor in order to save
her son’s life. During her son’s treatment she had to pay all kind of fees including
transportation, services and an under-the-table payment. In total shespent 2,000,000 R ($500).
She regretted that she had not bought insurance which would only have cost 8,000 R ($2)/
person for 6 months of coverage for a family member.This was especially clear because
while she was looking after her son, there were a few patients who took in-patient services
(IPD) in the hospital,close to her son’s bed,who didn’t need to pay anything.Their treatment
was covered by CHC Kralanh because they wereCBHI members, the opposite of her son.
After her son left hospital, Mrs. Chan Hy called the Village Insurance Volunteer (VIV)to
quickly register the rest of her family asmembers of the CBHI scheme and she intends toenrol
in the scheme as long as she can. Since then, she has helped to promote the scheme to her
neighbors as well as other villagers so that their health can be protected like her daughter’s
family through paying in advance, and gaining long-termfinancial benefits.