The impact of the national health insurance Scheme on the productivity of cassava farmers in Ghana: evidence from the central and eastern Regions
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Date
2015-04-17
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Ghana
Abstract
Health insurance is a humanitarian and affordable way of financing
health care services to all. With the main aim of NHIS being the
provision of easy. equitable access to health care especially in the rural
areas and also the fact that every citizen is taxed with an NHIS levy. it is
expected that most. if not all. of the citizens in the country especially
the rural areas will enrol. But this is not so. especially among the
poorest quintile in most studies.
The study therefore estimates the factors that influence the decision to
participate. the impact of the National Health Insurance Scheme
(NHIS) on cassava productivity as well as ranking of the constraints to
NHIS participation of farmers in the Ayensuano district and
Mfantsiman municipal in the Eastern and Central regions of Ghana
respectively. The study employed the logit. propensity score matching
and the Garret ranking techniques for its analyses.
Results from the study reveals that participation in NHIS increases
farmers' productivity by approximately 15 bags of cassava per the
production year.
The significant factors that determine participation in NHIS include
income. social capital. gender. health status. awareness. religion.
extension contact and distance. Delay in the issue of health insurance
cards is the main problem faced by farmers in the study area. The
study recommends that the N H IS which is mandatory by law should be
enforced on the whole population especially on farmers.
Description
School of social sciences colloquium
Keywords
humanitarian, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), gender, quintile