Investigation of the relationship between health expenditure and profit level of farmers in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Health expenditures on profit effect on farmers in Bayelsa State, Nigeria were examined. Purposive and random sampling procedures were used to select 216 respondents for the study. The average monthly health expenditure and net farm income per farmer were N664 and N17,995.31k respectively. The regression model showed that health expenditure had an inverse relationship with profit. Their total healthcare expenditure was significantly influenced by gender, age, household size, education, income, and cost of medical services. The result of the correlation analysis shows that there is a significant negative relationship between profit and health expenditure of farmers in the study area (r=0.625, p<0.05). It is recommended that more affordable health services should be provided as well as reduced transport costs; price ceilings for healthcare medical services should be introduced.