Analysis of access to health insurance coverage and associated factors among women of reproductive age 15-49 years

Abstract

The objective of the study was to analyze the association between socio-demographic, media and economic factors affecting the access to health insurance coverage among women of reproductive age 15-49 years. The study is based on secondary data from Individual Recode dataset which is an extract from the national representative demographic and health survey (UDHS 2016). A total of 18506 respondents were analyzed. Sample survey weighted results were used, Scot-Rao Adjusted Chi-square tests were used at bivariate analysis and complementary log-log regression model was used to examine the association of various study variables on access to health insurance. The study findings revealed that out of 18,506 respondents, 23.5% were aware of health insurance, of these 18.8% ever considered joining a health insurance scheme and about 1.4% of the respondents reported to be on a health insurance scheme. Study findings revealed that respondents’ level of education, religious affiliation and place of residence and access to information through media related factors significantly influenced access to health insurance at bivariate analysis. Further findings revealed that age, region and religion significantly influenced access to health insurance at multivariate level. That is those aged 26- 40 years had twice the odds of being covered by health insurance as compared people below 25 years (AOR= 2.167, CI=(1.520,3.089)). Similarly, those aged 40 years and above were more than two times the odds of being on health insurance (AOR=2.522, CI=(1.499,4.239)). Those coming from the western region (AOR=2.277, CI=(1.245,4.161)), being Anglican (AOR=1.816, CI=(1.191,2.766)) and being Roman Catholic (AOR=1.986, CI=(1.327,2.970)) had twice the odds of being covered by health insurance. Conclusions from the study showed that older persons had higher chances of joining health insurance and having a health insurance scheme. Further the studies concluded the role of religion in promoting access to health insurance. Finally, the study recommends that insurance companies and Ministry of Health can target older persons aged above 26 years, wealthy individuals and places of worship to ensure mass awareness of health insurance and access to health insurance.