Abstract
ABSTRACT Background: Health care systems in developing countries such as Tanzania depend heavily on out-of-pocket payments. This mechanism contributes to inefficiency, inequity and cost, and is a barrier to patients seeking access to care. There are efforts to expand health insurance coverage to vulnerable groups, including older adults, in Sub-Saharan African countries. Objective: To analyse the association between health insurance and health service use in rural residents aged 60 and above in Tanzania. Methods: Data were obtained from a household survey conducted in the Nzega and Igunga districts. A standardised survey instrument from the World Health Organization Study on global AGEing and adult health was used. This comprised of questions regarding demographic and socio-economic characteristics, health and insurance status, health seeking behaviours, sickness history (three months and one year prior to the survey), and the receipt of health care. A multistage sampling method was used to select wards, villages and respondents in each district. Local ward and hamlet officers guided the researchers in identifying households with older people. Crude and adjusted logistic regression methods were used to explore associations between health insurance and outpatient and inpatient health care use. Results: The study sample comprised 1,899 people aged 60 and above of whom 44% reported having health insurance. A positive statistically significant association between health insurance and the utilisation of outpatient and inpatient care was observed in all models. The odds of using outpatient (adjusted OR = 2.20; 95% CI: 1.54, 3.14) and inpatient services (adjusted OR = 3.20; 95% CI: 2.46, 4.15) were higher among the insured. Conclusion: Health insurance is a predictor of outpatient and inpatient health services in people aged 60 and above in rural Tanzania. Further research is needed to understand the perceptions of both the insured and uninsured regarding the quality of care received.
Highlights
Health care systems in developing countries such as Tanzania depend heavily on out-of-pocket payments
There is an extensive body of evi dence describing how ofpocket payments (OOP) mechanisms have con tributed to inefficiencies, inequities and higher costs, and have become a barrier for patients and families seeking to access affordable health care [3,4]
The two districts have a total of 5,571 people aged 60 and above with mainly National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and Community Health Fund (CHF)
Summary
Health care systems in developing countries such as Tanzania depend heavily on out-of-pocket payments This mechanism contributes to inefficiency, inequity and cost, and is a barrier to patients seeking access to care. There is an extensive body of evi dence describing how OOP mechanisms have con tributed to inefficiencies, inequities and higher costs, and have become a barrier for patients and families seeking to access affordable health care [3,4]. This has led to a failure of countries to sustain sufficient funding for health care. Over the last two decades, many African countries have been look ing at the possibilities of introducing and expand ing health insurance (HI) coverage, installing effective exemption mechanisms for those unable to pay, and improving tax collection and alloca tion to health care [10,11,12]
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