Determinants of Health Insurance Enrollment and Health Expenditure in Ghana: An Empirical Analysis / Kwame Adjei-Mantey, Charles Yuji Horioka.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Adjei-Mantey, Kwame.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Horioka, Charles Yuji.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w30175.

NBER working paper series no. w30175

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2022.

Summary:

This paper analyzes the determinants of health insurance enrollment and health expenditure in Ghana using micro data from wave 7 of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 7) with emphasis on the role of risk preferences and the availability of health facilities in one's own community. It is possible to analyze the determinants of health insurance enrollment in Ghana because its public health insurance system (the National Health Insurance Scheme or NHIS) is, in theory, mandatory, but is, in actual practice, voluntary, with only about 40% of the population enrolled in the scheme. Our empirical findings show that risk preferences have a significant impact on health insurance enrollment, with risk averse individuals being significantly more likely than other households to enroll in health insurance. Moreover, our findings also show that very poor households are significantly more likely to enroll in health insurance than other households, perhaps because they are exempt from paying premiums for health insurance. Finally, our findings also show that the availability of health facilities in one's own community significantly decreases expenditures on health care.

Notes:

Print version record

June 2022.