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The Financial Risk Reduction Provided by Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme

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  • Raju,Dhushyanth
  • Younger,Stephen D.

Abstract

This paper estimates the monetary value of financial risk reduction associated with membershipin Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme, based on recent national household survey data. The paper compares the riskpremiums for distributions of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures with and without insurance and find that thedifference is small. This does not mean that the National Health Insurance Scheme has no value to members. Indeed, thefindings show that the insured pay significantly less for healthcare than the uninsured on average. But that averagereduction does not translate into a reduced spread of consumption net of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures.Thus, the benefit of the National Health Insurance Scheme is entirely a transfer benefit, not a reduction in financial risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Raju,Dhushyanth & Younger,Stephen D., 2022. "The Financial Risk Reduction Provided by Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10073, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10073
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Martin Feldstein & Jonathan Gruber, 1995. "A Major Risk Approach to Health Insurance Reform," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 9, pages 103-130, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Garcia-Mandicó, Sílvia & Reichert, Arndt & Strupat, Christoph, 2021. "The Social Value of Health Insurance: Results from Ghana," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
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