Factors that have influenced the uptake of health insurance in Uganda. A case study of Nansana Municipality, Wakiso district.

Abstract

Health Insurance is a type of insurance that covers medical expenses that arise due to an illness. Expenses such as hospitalization costs, costs of medicines, doctor consultation fees, among others. Whereas it is being embraced by some people, insurance uptake in Uganda is generally still low, being around 1%, the main reasons for this are economic factors and ignorance of the masses on how insurance works, with the latter forcing some to opt for out-of-pocket payments. The objectives of this study are; to examine the relationship between socio-demographic factors, socio-economic factors and the uptake of health insurance in Uganda, to assess the relationship between individual factors, health knowledge and uptake of health insurance in Uganda. This study adopted an experimental design involving numerical data, which employed a quantitative method. A self-administered questionnaire was used in obtaining the data on factors affecting uptake of health insurance in Uganda. A total of 127 respondents participated in the study, with 54 males (49.09%) and 56 females (50.91%) taking part. According to the results obtained, 24 respondents (22.02%) had health insurance whereas 85 respondents (77.98%) did not have health insurance. It is also noted from the findings that even though a large proportion of the respondents (94.5%) thought that health insurance was necessary, only a small percentage of the respondents (22.02%) actually had health insurance. Despite the fact that majority of the respondents (74.07%) knew companies offering health insurance, most of the respondents did not have health insurance. Results from this study revealed that only the variables (Gender, Age bracket, Employment status, History of a chronic disease in the family, and Aware of the types of Health insurance) were significant predictors of the uptake of health insurance since their p-values were less than 0.25 which was the cut off p-value. A person who is aware of the types of Health insurance is 3.36 times more likely to have health insurance since the odds ratio is 3.36. From the above findings, there is need for the right measures to be taken to increase sensitization among people about health insurance and the associated benefits.