Identifying barriers to move to better health coverage: preferences for health insurance benefits among the rural poor population in La Guajira, Colombia.

Even though access to health insurance in Colombia has improved since the implementation of the 1993 health reforms (Law 100), universal coverage has not yet been accomplished. There is still a segment of the population under the low-income (subsidized) health insurance policy or without health insurance altogether. The purpose of this research was to identify preferences and behavior regarding health insurance among the subsidized rural population in La Guajira, Colombia, and to understand why that population remains under the subsidized health insurance policy.