The Role of the National Health Insurance Scheme in Accessing Health Care in the Ga West Municipality

Abstract

Ensuring access to quality healthcare is deemed a basic necessity and a fundamental driver for economic growth and development. In view of this, there have been several efforts geared toward ensuring universal health coverage, especially in developing countries. Given the barriers cost of payment for health care pose to health care access and utilisation, health policies such as the health insurance play significant roles in mitigating these barriers. However, some studies suggest that the over-arching purpose of Ghana‘s National Health Insurance Scheme – to provide financial access to quality health care – continue to be constrained by some challenges, and this poses a serious challenge to bridging the health care accessibility and utilisation gap. Against this backdrop and further positioned in the Ga West Municipality of Ghana, this study examined the role of the National Health Insurance Scheme in accessing health care. Specifically, it examined the awareness of households on NHIS in the Ga West Municipality; assessed the role of NHIS in quality healthcare accessibility in Ga West Municipality; examined the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of respondents and HIS subscription; and lastly, examined the challenges to NHIS implementation in Ga West Municipality. The study relied on the mixed method approach for its data collection. A total of 200 respondents were sampled for the questionnaire survey and various institutional heads and some respondents were selected for the in-depth interview. The study reported high level of NHIS awareness amongst suscribers and non-subscribers of NHIS, and the major source of information on NHIS was friends and family. Also, most of the study population had little knowledge on other insurance schemes aside the NHIS. In terms of access to health facilities, NHIS subscribers indicated that they experience longer waiting time, poor attitude of staffs and personnel, unavailability of prescribed drugs at the facilities as compared to those who pay out-of-pocket. Findings from the study revealed that females were more likely to enrol on NHIS than males, and people with tertiary education were also more likely to subscribe to the NHIS. Finally, the study revealed that barriers to NHIS subscription influence healthcare accessibility in the context of the Ga West Municipality. Given how important the NHIS is in bridging the health care utilisation gap and ensuring inclusivity of every Ghanaian in quality health care delivery, the study recommends that much effort should be directed at resolving the various challenges associated with the scheme.