IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0303045.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

User satisfaction with the National Health Insurance Program: A community-based survey from the Ilam district of Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Rasmita Shrestha
  • Aditya Shakya
  • Pratik Khanal
  • Vijay Kumar Khanal
  • Nilambar Jha
  • Gyanu Nepal Gurung
  • Laxmi Subedi

Abstract

Background: The Government of Nepal initiated a family-based National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) in April 2016, aiming to ensure universal health coverage (UHC) by enhancing access to and utilization of quality health services. However, NHIP, in its initial years of implementation, encountered challenges such as low population coverage, a high dropout rate, and concerns among the insured regarding the quality of healthcare services. There is a dearth of information regarding user satisfaction with the NHIP in Nepal. This study aimed to assess user satisfaction with NHIP at the household level in Nepal. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 347 households in the Ilam district using a multi-stage random sampling method. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with household heads enrolled in NHIP. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. The multivariable logistic regression analysis was done to identify the predictors of satisfaction level. Results: Overall, 53.6% of the insured were satisfied with the NHIP, while 31.1% had comprehensive knowledge about the NHIP. Factors such as gender (AOR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.08–3.00), distance to the first point of contact (AOR: 2.15, 95% CI: 1.24–3.74), waiting time (AOR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.20–3.42), availability of diagnostic services (AOR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.05–3.45), availability of prescribed medicine (AOR: 3.90, 95% CI: 1.97–7.69), perceived service quality (AOR: 2.20, 95% CI: 1.15–4.20), and the behavior of service providers (AOR: 3.48, 95% CI: 1.04–11.63) were significantly associated with user satisfaction. Conclusion: The satisfaction level among NHIP users was deemed moderate. This study highlighted several factors, such as gender, distance to the first point of contact, waiting time, availability of diagnostic services and prescribed medicine, perceived service quality, and the behavior of service providers, as key determinants impacting user satisfaction. Recognizing the pivotal role of user satisfaction, health insurance stakeholders must prioritize it to ensure higher retention rates and coverage within NHIP.

Suggested Citation

  • Rasmita Shrestha & Aditya Shakya & Pratik Khanal & Vijay Kumar Khanal & Nilambar Jha & Gyanu Nepal Gurung & Laxmi Subedi, 2024. "User satisfaction with the National Health Insurance Program: A community-based survey from the Ilam district of Nepal," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(5), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0303045
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303045
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0303045
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0303045&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0303045?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rajani Pokharel & Pushkar Raj Silwal, 2018. "Social health insurance in Nepal: A health system departure toward the universal health coverage," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 573-580, July.
    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. Gaj Bahadur Gurung & Alessio Panza, 2022. "Implementation bottlenecks of the National Health Insurance program in Nepal: Paving the path towards Universal Health Coverage: A qualitative study," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 171-188, January.
    2. Nguyen Thi Thu Thuong & Yme Van Den Berg & Tran Quang Huy & Do Anh Tai & Bui Nu Hoang Anh, 2021. "Determinants of catastrophic health expenditure in Vietnam," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 316-333, March.

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0303045. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.