IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mth/jpag88/v10y2020i1p86-99.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experiences of the Insured and Non-Insured of the NHIS in Accessing Health-care in Tema, Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Teye Plahar
  • Dai Baozhen
  • Abubakar Saddiqque
  • Sandra Asantewaa Mensah

Abstract

The study analyzes the impacts emanating from the National Health Insurance Scheme in its attempt to ensuring that Ghanaians can access quality and affordable health-care. The study focuses on three hospitals; CJ Medical Centre, Sakumono Community Hospital and Tema General Hospital in the Tema, Ghana.To realize the objectives, the study applies a mixed approach to collecting and analyzing data. An interview guide and semi-structured criteria are used in the collection of data. The collected data included qualitative and quantitative data and were analyzed using color coding based on emerging themes and SPSS 18 respectively. The study was able to establish that, comparatively, people insured by the NHIS have enhanced accessibility when it comes to health-care, than the non-insured. The insured enjoy benefits from the Scheme and together with their children below 18 years enjoy free laboratory, OPD dispensary and consultation services, and some surgical procedures in both private and public hospitals.On the contrary, the non-insured have no option other than paying for the same services when in need of medical attention. However, non-insured who have cash at the ready are readily attended to while those enrolled on the NHIS may have to wait a bit longer to be served.Recommendations include authorities ensuring claims are settled promptly, expansion of number of drugs and conditions covered by the NHIS, reduction in premiums and measures to ensure health workers are not biased against the insured.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Teye Plahar & Dai Baozhen & Abubakar Saddiqque & Sandra Asantewaa Mensah, 2020. "Experiences of the Insured and Non-Insured of the NHIS in Accessing Health-care in Tema, Ghana," Journal of Public Administration and Governance, Macrothink Institute, vol. 10(1), pages 8699-8699, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:mth:jpag88:v:10:y:2020:i:1:p:86-99
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jpag/article/download/16130/12724
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jpag/article/view/16130
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Agar Brugiavini & Noemi Pace, 2016. "Extending health insurance in Ghana: effects of the National Health Insurance Scheme on maternity care," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-10, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Darius Erlangga & Marc Suhrcke & Shehzad Ali & Karen Bloor, 2019. "The impact of public health insurance on health care utilisation, financial protection and health status in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Lin, Lin & Zai, Xianhua, 2022. "The Power of Public Insurance With Limited Benefits: Evidence from China's New Cooperative Medical Scheme," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1180, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Derek Asuman & Charles Godfred Ackah & Ulrika Enemark, 2018. "Inequalities in child immunization coverage in Ghana: evidence from a decomposition analysis," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Robert Kaba Alhassan & Edward Nketiah-Amponsah & Daniel Kojo Arhinful, 2016. "A Review of the National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana: What Are the Sustainability Threats and Prospects?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Darkwah, Frank, 2022. "Does free health insurance improve health care use and labour market outcomes of the elderly in Ghana?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    6. Maia Sieverding & Cynthia Onyango & Lauren Suchman, 2018. "Private healthcare provider experiences with social health insurance schemes: Findings from a qualitative study in Ghana and Kenya," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-22, February.
    7. Hubert Amu & Kwamena Sekyi Dickson, 2016. "Health insurance subscription among women in reproductive age in Ghana: do socio-demographics matter?," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-8, December.
    8. Phuong Hung Vu & Ardeshir Sepehri & Linh Thi Thuy Tran, 2023. "Trends in out-of-pocket expenditure on facility-based delivery and financial protection of health insurance: findings from Vietnam’s Household Living Standard Survey 2006–2018," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 237-254, June.
    9. Veronica Vargas & Sayem Ahmed & Alayne M Adams, 2018. "Factors enabling comprehensive maternal health services in the benefits package of emerging financing schemes: A cross-sectional analysis from 1990 to 2014," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, September.
    10. Marion Ravit & Andrainolo Ravalihasy & Martine Audibert & Valery Ridde & Emmanuel Bonnet & Bertille Raffalli & Flore-Apolline Roy & Anais N’landu & Alexandre Dumont, 2020. "The impact of the obstetrical risk insurance scheme in Mauritania on maternal healthcare utilization: a propensity score matching analysis," Post-Print hal-02509190, HAL.
    11. Philip Ayizem Dalinjong & Alex Y. Wang & Caroline S. E. Homer, 2017. "The operations of the free maternal care policy and out of pocket payments during childbirth in rural Northern Ghana," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, December.
    12. Bagnoli, Lisa, 2019. "Does health insurance improve health for all? Heterogeneous effects on children in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Lin Lin & Xianhua Zai, 2022. "The role of supply responses in public insurance expansion: evidence from China's New Cooperative Medical Scheme," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2022-025, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    14. Desai, Raj M. & Rudra, Nita, 2019. "Trade, poverty, and social protection in developing countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    15. Bola Lukman Solanke, 2021. "Do the determinants of institutional delivery among childbearing women differ by health insurance enrolment? Findings from a population‐based study in Nigeria," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 668-688, May.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mth:jpag88:v:10:y:2020:i:1:p:86-99. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Technical Support Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jpag .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.