Socio-Economic and Demographic Determinants of Health Insurance Consumption

Nkanikpo Ibok Ibok

Abstract


This study analyzed factors affecting health insurance consumption in Akwa Ibom State. Primary data were collected from a total of 60 national Health Insurance Scheme patrons and non patron. Data were collected on consumer’s education, income, age; religion, sex, marital status, access to health insurance information, occupation and family size. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. The socio-economic and demographic profile of the people revealed that most of the sampled NHIS patrons and non patrons were literate, engaged in meaningful employment, mostly married with average income, and were still in their active ages, and demonstrated meaningful exposure to insurance health information, which enable them to be or not to be active participants of the scheme. From the regression analysis, it was evident that all the variables except religion influenced insurance consumption positively whereas religion affects health insurance consumption negatively. Based on this, we recommended among other things, a re-alignment of health insurance marketing strategies with consumers socio-economic and demographic characteristics, as a measure to boost patronage.

Key words: Socio-Economic; Demographic; Health insurance; Consumption


Keywords


Socio-Economic, Demographic, Health insurance, Consumption

References


Baernighausen, A. T. Nichols, L.M., & Asunso W. K. (2007). Willingness to Pay for Social Health Insurance Among Informal Sector Workers in Wuhan, China: A Contingent Valuation Study. BMC Health Services Research, 7, 114-122.

Bloom, G. (2004). China in Transition: Challenges to Urban Health Services. In B. Gerald, S. L. Tang (Eds.), Health Care Transition in Urban China (pp. 127-142). England: Ashgare Publishing Limited.

Blumberg, L. L., & Nichols, L. M. (2002). Why Are So Many Americans Uninsured? A Conceptual Framework, Summary of Evidence and Delineation of the Gaps in Our Knowledge. Paper Presented at Research Agenda Setting Conference, Research Initiative on Health Insurance University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 8-10.

Browne. M. J., & Kim K. (1993). An International Analysis of Life Insurance Demand. Journal of Risk and Insurance, 60, 616-634.

Butler, S. (1997). Transcending Employer Based Health Insurance. Paper Presented at a Conference on Using Tax Policy to Reduce the Number of Uninsured, Council on Economic Impact of Health System Change. Washington, D. C. December 17.

Dong, H. A., Gbangon, M., De Allegri, S., Pokhrel, S., & Saverborn, R. (2008). The Differences in Characteristics Between Health Care Users and Non Users: Implication for Introducing Community -- Based Health Insurance in Burkina Faso. European Journal of Health Economics, 9, 41-50.

Grossman, M. (1972). On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health. Journal of Political Economy, 80(2), 223-55.

Hadley, J. (2002). Sicker and Poorer: The Consequences of Being Uninsured. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Harmon, C., & Nolan, B. (2001). Health Insurance and Health Services Utilization in Ireland. Health Economics, 10, 135-145.

Ibok, N. I. (2006). Determinants of Insurance Consumption in the South-South Zone, Nigeria. (Unpublished Doctorial Thesis). University of Calabar, Nigeria.

Islam, M. R., Islam, M. A., & Banowary, B. (2009). Determinants of Exposure to Mass Media Family Planning Messages Among Indinogenous People in Bangladish: A Study on the Garo. Journal of Biosocial Science, 41, 221-229.

Juetting, J. (2004). Do Community Based Health Insurance Scheme Improve Poor People’S Access to Health Care? Evidence from Rural Senegal. World Development, 32, 273-288.

Juetting, J. (2003). Health Insurance for the Poor: Determinants of Participation in Community Based Health Insurance Schemes in Rural Senegal. Centre for Development Research. University of Bonn.

Kirigia, J. M., Lin T., & Greane, W. H. (2005). Determinants of Health Insurance Ownership Among South African Women. BMC Health Services Research, 5(17), 1-10.

Kronick, R. & Gilmer, T. (1999). Explaining the Decline in Health Insurance Coverage, 1979-1995. Health Affairs, 18(2), 30-42.

Liu, T. & Chen, C. (2002). An Analysis of Private Health Insurance Purchasing Decision with National Health Insurance in Taiwan. Social Science and Medicine Journal, 55, 755-774.

Long, J. S. (1977). Regression Models for Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables. London: Sage publications.

Long, S. H., & Marquis, M.S. (2002). Insurance Programme: Subsidies, Crowd out and Adverse Selection. Inquiry, 39(3), 243-59.

Makoka, D. B., Kaluioa, M., & Kaubewa, P. (2007). Demand for Private Health Insurance Where Public Health Services Are Free: the Case of Malawi. Journal of Applied Services, 21, 3268-3274.

Msuya, J. M., Nyonator, F., & Kutzon. J. (2004). Impacts of Community Health Insurance Schemes on Health Care Provision in Rural Tanzania. ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy: No. 82. Centre for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn.

Osei-Akoto, I. (2004). The Economics of Rural Health Insurance -- The Effects of Formal and Informal Risk Sharing Schemes in Ghana. Development Economics and Policy, (40), Peter Lang, Frankfurt.

Pauly, M., & Herring, B. (2001). Expanding Coverage via Tax Credits: Tradeoffs and Outcomes. Health Affairs, 20(1), 9-26.

Propper, C. (2000). The Demand for Private Health Care in the UK. Journal of Health Economics, 19(6), 855-76.

Rhine, S. L. W., & Ng, Y. C. (1998). The Effects of Employment, Status on Private Health Insurance Coverage: 1997 and 1987. Health Economics, 7(1), 63-79.

Savage, E., & Wright, D. (1999). Health Insurance and Health Care Utilization: Theory and Evidence from Australia. Monograph, University of Sydney, Sydney.

Temple, J. (2002). Explaining the Private Health Insurance Coverage of Older Australians. People and Place, 12(2), 13-26.

Trujillo, A. J. (2003). Medical Care Use and Selection in Social Health Insurance with an Equalization Fund: Evidence from Columbia. Health Economics, 12(3), 231-246.

Van De Ven, W. P. M. M., & Van Praag, B.M.S. (1981). The Demand for Deductibles in Private Health Insurance. Journal of Econometrics, 17(2), 229-252.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/j.css.1923669720120805.1836

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c)



Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

  • Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/css/submission/wizard

  • Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
  • We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 

Canadian Social Science Editorial Office

Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture