Promoting and protecting health is essential to human welfare and sustained economic and social development. This was recognized many years ago through Alma-Atta Declaration signatories. WHO noted that Health for all would be contributed both to better quality of life and also to global peace? People also rate health as one of their highest priorities. As a result health becomes a political issue as governments meet people’s expectations. There are many ways to promote and sustain health. But timely access to health services is a critical issue in many developing countries. This cannot be achieved without a well functioning health financing system. It determines whether people can afford to use health services when they are in need. The issue of health financing is an essential dimension of Health Systems reform in developing countries. It also occupies a central place in poverty reduction strategies in the implementation of debt initiatives and the pursuit of Millennium Development Goals. In the emerging countries especially in Asia and Africa, the development of Health Insurance is considered a priority. Meanwhile, government and their development partners are giving importance to considerations of equity in health financing and access to health care. They are more attentive to the role of financing that can play a major role in making health systems more efficient through various mechanisms. Health financing can not be separated from development policies and macroeconomic sector reforms, especially as the lack of resources often coexists with greater difficulties in terms of absorption capacity. The purpose of health financing is to mobilize resources for the health system, to set the financial incentives for the providers and to ensure that all individuals have access to effective health care. . In the current debate numbers of arguments are put forward to stress the advantages of Health Insurance in financing and access of health care in poor countries. Based on these arguments; • The insurance can increase the availability of resources for health care and freeing up of limited public funds to be directed towards the poor people. • Insurance is a more predictable way of funding than tax based system and this also can encourage private investment in public health system. • The funds from the claims can retain in the public facilities and can utilize for the expansion of facilities and incentives for the staff. Now the developing countries like India mainly focusing on community based health insurance schemes to promote access to quality health care and reduce financial hardship when people become ill. This section is trying to give some evidence form Indian and Ethiopian experience on community based health insurance schemes.