Microfinance

It's taken 40 years of experimentation, but in the Philippines, a unique business model has found a way to sell life insurance hand over fist to poor people.

Hospitalization can save a life--at the cost, sometimes, of throwing it permanently off track. Two very different countries, India and the United States, recently chose a similar solution: subsidized insurance.

The only way to make money selling things to the very poor is with miniscule prices, microscopic margins and massive volume—right?