Poor women face variety of risks including health shocks that exposes them to greater poverty and insecurity. Because of restricted access to private health insurance or social insurance, micro health insurance offered by micro finance institutions brings a ray of hope for economically deprived women. There is a need to broaden the evidence base on the gender effect of MHI in India. This paper evaluates the effect of SampoornaSurakshaProgramme on financial protection of self-help group members. A ousehold survey of 1146 families extracted data on various measures of financial protection in Karnataka. The results suggest positive impact of SSP on insured women compared to ninsured and newly insured women. It reduced out of pocket expenses, catastrophic health expenditure, and borrowing. Health insurance can be one of the empowering mechanisms for women to improve health care utilization in India where gender inequities in health care is glaringly evident.