The Impact of Health Care Insurance Plans
Chapter One
Objectives of the study
1. To determine the impact health care insurance plans have on Nigerians.
2. To identify the relationship between health care and insurance plans.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter presents the review of literature related to the present study under the following headings: conceptual review – concept of National Health Insurance Scheme/plan/plan, operation of the Formal Sector Social Health Insurance Programme, perception of Federal Civil Servants about NHIS, knowledge about NHIS, public view on the continuity of the programme, perception of quality of care; theoretical review – (theory of knowledge); empirical review of health Insurance.
Concept of National Health Insurance Scheme/plan
Insurance, according to Neisten (2009), refers to an arrangement by which a company gives customer financial protection against loss or harm. It is an act, measure or provision that gives protection against an undesirable event or risk. Hacker, (2011) defines insurance as an arrangement with a company in which you pay them regular amount of money and they agree to pay the cost for illness or death. Hamza (2007), defined health insurance as a system in which prospective consumers of care make payment to a third party in the form of an insurance Scheme/plan which in the event of future illness will pay the provider of care some or all of the expenses incurred. Simply put, it is a payment plan in which participants pay a regular amount which is pooled to provide for those needing care. In the present study health insurance refers to a mechanism in which people contribute some amount of money which is pooled and later utilized for members against unplanned and unaffordable expenditure for health care services in the event of illness.
Social Health Insurance (SHI) as a category of health insurance to which NHIS falls, is a form of financing that pays for health services through contributions to a health fund. The most common basis for contribution is payroll, which contributors from both employer and employees determine the percentage they contribute. The contributions are based on ability to pay, and access to services depends on need (Hamza, 2007). The health fund is usually independent of government, but works within a tight framework of regulations. Social health insurance is based on mutual support and involves a transfer of resources from the relatively richer and healthier people to the relatively poor and sickly people. Hamza (2007), asserted that there is no stereotyped or standard design for a national health insurance Scheme/plan. Individual countries design their own insurance systems that suit their socio-economic, cultural and political backgrounds.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
AREA OF STUDY
Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) is a tertiary hospital established in 1961 and is located in Idi-Araba, Surulere, Lagos State, the administrative division of Nigeria. The teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Lagos College of Medicine established in 1962. The University of Lagos College of Medicine educates students and LUTH provides them with experience through placement and work experience.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitute of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried out to examine the impact of health care insurance plans in Nigeria using Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in Idi-Araba, Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria as the case study. The staff of LUTH form the population of the study.
According to statistics from the website of LUTH the population is 321.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
DATA PRESENTATION
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
CONCLUSION
In this study, our focus was to examine the impact of health care insurance plans in Nigeria using Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in Idi-Araba, Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria as the case study. The study specifically was aimed at determining the impact health care insurance plan have on Nigerians; and to identify the relationship between health care and insurance plan.
The study adopted the survey research design and randomly enrolled participants in the study. A total of 100 responses were validated from the enrolled participants where all respondent are active workers in Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in Idi-Araba, Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State. The findings revealed that there is significant impact of health care insurance plans in Nigeria; and that there is a relationship between health care and insurance plan.
RECOMMENDATION
Based on the responses obtained, the researcher proffers the following recommendations:
Based on the findings in this study, the following recommendations are made as follows;
- The government in collaboration with relevant stakeholders should ensure optimal awareness and education on NHIS to all Nigerians. This will definitely trigger the increase in the number of enrollees.
- The Scheme/planshould focus on quality improvement of health services to increase the satisfaction level of enrollees
- The current NHIS policy should be reformed to gain a wider coverage and ensure equity in accessing health services especially among the poor and vulnerable populace.
REFERENCES
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- Agba M. S. (2010): Perceived Impact of the National Health Insurance Scheme/planamong Registered Staff in Federal Polytechnic, Idah, Kogi State,Nigeria. Studies in Sociology of Science 1 No. 1 pp. 44-49
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- Carrin, G., et al. (2005). Community-based health insurance in developing countries: a study of its contribution to the performance of health financing systems. TropicalMedicine & International Health, 10 (8), 799-811.
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- Criel, B. & Waelkens, M. P. (2003). Declining subscriptions to the Maliando Mutual Health Organisation in Guinea-Conakry (West Africa): what is going wrong? Social Scienceand Medicine, 57, 1205–1219.
- Ghana Statistical Service and Ghana Health Service. (2009). Ghana Demographic andHealth Survey, 2008. Accra, Ghana
- Gobah F. K., Liang Z. (2011): The National Health Insurance Scheme/planin Ghana: Prospects and Challenges: a cross-sectional evidence. Global Journal of Health Science 3 No. 2 pp. 90-101
