Global Social Welfare and Social Policy Debates: Ghana’s Health Insurance Scheme Promotion of the Well-Being of Vulnerable Groups
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Date
2020-01-23
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Journal of Social Service Research
Abstract
This article analyses social welfare, social policy with individualist and collectivist theoretical
perspectives. It discusses the well-being of vulnerable groups and their access to social services
including healthcare in the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme
(NHIS) in Ghana. The aim is to find out the extent of vulnerable groups enrollment and if
their welfare and well-being have improved in the implementation of Ghana’s health insurance
scheme. Also, it examines whether NHIS is a pro-poor social intervention program or
not. Data sources include census data, documents from health insurance authority, in-depth
interviews, focus group discussions, direct observations at social service delivery points.
Purposive, cluster and snowball sampling techniques are used to select participants. The
sample size is 107 participants with 12 months of intensive data collection in three phases
from 2012, 2013 and ended on October 2014. Results show more vulnerable groups are
enrolled in NHIS compared with contributors. This suggests people who do not pay annual
premiums constituted most health insurance subscribers. Also, the results show health insurance
covered 38% of Ghana’s population for the 10 years of implementation of NHIS
(2004–2013). Despite the progressive increase in coverage of NHIS, there are still some
implementation challenges. The research found certain behaviors, practices, and attitudes of
some social service providers as inhibiting subscribers’ enrollment. Future research may
focus on social intervention programs for vulnerable groups across states.Health insurance scheme
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Health insurance scheme, social policy, social services, social welfare, vulnerable groups, well-being
Citation
Daniel Dramani Kipo-Sunyehzi (2020) Global Social Welfare and Social Policy Debates: Ghana’s Health Insurance Scheme Promotion of the Well-Being of Vulnerable Groups, Journal of Social Service Research, DOI: 10.1080/01488376.2020.1716919