The Impact of Mutual Health Insurance Scheme on Access and Quality of Health Care in Northern Ghana: The Case of Kassena-Nankana East Scheme

Kennedy Alatinga,Nicholas Fielmua

doi:10.5539/jsd.v4n5p125

Abstract

This study examines the Impact of Mutual Health Insurance on Access and Quality of Health Care for the Rural Poor in Northern Ghana. Using household surveys and focused group discussions, the study establishes that Mutual Health Insurance improves the poor access to health care as the insured use nearly 3 times of health facilities more than the uninsured. The insured equally pay relatively lower out-of-pocket fees than the uninsured at the point of demanding health care. Households with higher incomes generally enrol in health insurance while the poorest segment of the community risk being excluded because they cannot afford the insurance premiums. It is recommended that since the flat rate nature of insurance premiums is what prevents majority of households from enrolling in health insurance, the premiums could be made more flexible for the rural poor.

Highlights

Background of the StudyHealth and social security are human rights and indispensable prerequisites for poverty reduction, economic growth and development
Agriculture employs over 68% of the total economically active population and contributes about 60% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
In terms of health care, malaria is endemic accounting for over 60% of all outpatients seen at health facilities and 25% of under-five mortality in the District

Summary

Introduction

Background of the StudyHealth and social security are human rights and indispensable prerequisites for poverty reduction, economic growth and development. Out-of-pocket payments mostly in the form of user fees describe all expenses that patients have to pay to a health care provider according to set tariffs and directly out of their own pockets (Lasser and Rademacher, 2006). These out-of-pocket payments exclude a lot of the poor from accessing health care because they cannot afford. These out-of-pocket payments or expenditures may even be catastrophic and can plunge families or individuals into perpetual impoverishment.

Methods

Results

Conclusion