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Determinants of Uptake of Health Insurance Cover Among Adult Patients Attending Bungoma County Referral Hospital

Received: 19 April 2017     Accepted: 15 May 2017     Published: 12 July 2017
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Abstract

Health insurance is currently being considered as a mechanism for promoting progress to Universal health Coverage and reducing out-of-pocket payments in many African countries including Kenya which is prompting the use of NHIF. In Kenya, penetration of health insurance is 20% and 11% in Bungoma County. The main objective of the study was to establish the scheme-related factors influencing uptake of health insurance cover among patients attending Bungoma County Referral hospital. The study adopted across sectional descriptive survey of 300 systematically sampled patients, 4 purposively sampled departmental heads in Bungoma County Referral Hospital and all the 5 insurance company branch managers. Data was collected using questionnaires administered and Key Informant Interview schedule. Crude odds ratio was used to establish association between ownership of health insurance and scheme-related factors. Findings showed that 37% of patients owned health insurance covers mostly public health insurance cover (NHIF). Ownership of health insurance covers increased with age, household income, education levels, awareness of insurance benefits and concepts. Covers were also more prevalent among married patients. Ownership of health insurance covers increased 12.5 times with affordability of covers premiums. Stock-out of essential drugs and supplies and longer waiting time in covered health facilities discouraged enrollment to schemes.

Published in International Journal of Health Economics and Policy (Volume 2, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.hep.20170204.11
Page(s) 145-151
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Health Insurance Cover, Patient-Factors, Cover Benefits, Cover Accessibility, Perceived Cover Quality

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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Nathan Lukhale Masengeli, Wanja Mwaura-Tenambergen, Joseph Mutai, Ben Wafula Simiyu. (2017). Determinants of Uptake of Health Insurance Cover Among Adult Patients Attending Bungoma County Referral Hospital. International Journal of Health Economics and Policy, 2(4), 145-151. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20170204.11

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    ACS Style

    Nathan Lukhale Masengeli; Wanja Mwaura-Tenambergen; Joseph Mutai; Ben Wafula Simiyu. Determinants of Uptake of Health Insurance Cover Among Adult Patients Attending Bungoma County Referral Hospital. Int. J. Health Econ. Policy 2017, 2(4), 145-151. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20170204.11

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    AMA Style

    Nathan Lukhale Masengeli, Wanja Mwaura-Tenambergen, Joseph Mutai, Ben Wafula Simiyu. Determinants of Uptake of Health Insurance Cover Among Adult Patients Attending Bungoma County Referral Hospital. Int J Health Econ Policy. 2017;2(4):145-151. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20170204.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hep.20170204.11,
      author = {Nathan Lukhale Masengeli and Wanja Mwaura-Tenambergen and Joseph Mutai and Ben Wafula Simiyu},
      title = {Determinants of Uptake of Health Insurance Cover Among Adult Patients Attending Bungoma County Referral Hospital},
      journal = {International Journal of Health Economics and Policy},
      volume = {2},
      number = {4},
      pages = {145-151},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hep.20170204.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20170204.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hep.20170204.11},
      abstract = {Health insurance is currently being considered as a mechanism for promoting progress to Universal health Coverage and reducing out-of-pocket payments in many African countries including Kenya which is prompting the use of NHIF. In Kenya, penetration of health insurance is 20% and 11% in Bungoma County. The main objective of the study was to establish the scheme-related factors influencing uptake of health insurance cover among patients attending Bungoma County Referral hospital. The study adopted across sectional descriptive survey of 300 systematically sampled patients, 4 purposively sampled departmental heads in Bungoma County Referral Hospital and all the 5 insurance company branch managers. Data was collected using questionnaires administered and Key Informant Interview schedule. Crude odds ratio was used to establish association between ownership of health insurance and scheme-related factors. Findings showed that 37% of patients owned health insurance covers mostly public health insurance cover (NHIF). Ownership of health insurance covers increased with age, household income, education levels, awareness of insurance benefits and concepts. Covers were also more prevalent among married patients. Ownership of health insurance covers increased 12.5 times with affordability of covers premiums. Stock-out of essential drugs and supplies and longer waiting time in covered health facilities discouraged enrollment to schemes.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Determinants of Uptake of Health Insurance Cover Among Adult Patients Attending Bungoma County Referral Hospital
    AU  - Nathan Lukhale Masengeli
    AU  - Wanja Mwaura-Tenambergen
    AU  - Joseph Mutai
    AU  - Ben Wafula Simiyu
    Y1  - 2017/07/12
    PY  - 2017
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20170204.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.hep.20170204.11
    T2  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
    JF  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
    JO  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
    SP  - 145
    EP  - 151
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2578-9309
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20170204.11
    AB  - Health insurance is currently being considered as a mechanism for promoting progress to Universal health Coverage and reducing out-of-pocket payments in many African countries including Kenya which is prompting the use of NHIF. In Kenya, penetration of health insurance is 20% and 11% in Bungoma County. The main objective of the study was to establish the scheme-related factors influencing uptake of health insurance cover among patients attending Bungoma County Referral hospital. The study adopted across sectional descriptive survey of 300 systematically sampled patients, 4 purposively sampled departmental heads in Bungoma County Referral Hospital and all the 5 insurance company branch managers. Data was collected using questionnaires administered and Key Informant Interview schedule. Crude odds ratio was used to establish association between ownership of health insurance and scheme-related factors. Findings showed that 37% of patients owned health insurance covers mostly public health insurance cover (NHIF). Ownership of health insurance covers increased with age, household income, education levels, awareness of insurance benefits and concepts. Covers were also more prevalent among married patients. Ownership of health insurance covers increased 12.5 times with affordability of covers premiums. Stock-out of essential drugs and supplies and longer waiting time in covered health facilities discouraged enrollment to schemes.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • School of Medicine and Health Science, Kenya Methodist University, Nairobi, Kenya

  • School of Medicine and Health Science, Kenya Methodist University, Nairobi, Kenya

  • Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya

  • Kenya Medical Training College, Eldoret, Kenya

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