Factors affecting consumer's demand for health insurance in Uganda: (a case study of Makerere University teaching staff)

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to determine the factors affecting the consumer’s demand for health insurance in Uganda. The study adopted a descriptive and cross-sectional survey research design. Cross-sectional studies form a class of research methods that involve observation of all of a population, or a representative subset, at one specific point in time. The sample size of this study was 50 respondents. Questionnaires are organized group of questions used to elicit information from respondents. Questionnaires administered to the sampled respondents. The respondents stand to be assured that strictness is to be maintained in dealing with the responses. The respondents were given adequate time to fill in the questionnaires after which the filled-in questionnaires were collected for analysis. According to the Chi-square results, age of a lecturer has a significant relationship with consumer’s demand for health insurance among Makerere University academic staff since their p-value is less than 0.05. Furthermore, the Chi-square results showed that access to information has a significant relationship with consumer’s demand for health insurance among Makerere University academic staff since their p-values are less than 0.05. Furthermore, the Chi-square results show that position held by lecturer (income level) has a non-significant relationship with consumer’s demand for health insurance among Makerere University academic staff since their p-values at greater than 0.05. Last but not least, the Chi-square results show that marital status has a non-significant relationship with consumer’s demand for health insurance among Makerere University academic staff since their p-values at greater than 0.05. Logistic regression results showed that age of a lecturer and access to information have a positive significant relationship with consumer’s demand for health insurance among Makerere University academic staff since their p-values at less than 0.05. The study therefore recommends that the position held by lecturer was found to be significant; as it’s the government’s desire to have a stable and sustainable economic growth and developments as well as increasing productivity of nations’ resources, policies regarding accessibility to health care are a necessity. These need to be pursued in bid to promoting a healthy labor force required for sustainable growth and development.