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The Effect of Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme on Health Care Utilisation

Overview
Journal Ghana Med J
Specialty General Medicine
Date 2012 Sep 4
PMID 22942455
Citations 145
Authors
N J Blanchet
G Fink
I Osei-Akoto
Affiliations
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Abstract

Objectives: The study investigates the effect of Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) on health care utilisation.

Methods: We provide a short history of health insurance in Ghana, and briefly discuss general patterns of enrolment in Ghana as well as in Accra in a first step. In a second step, we use data from the Women's Health Study of Accra wave II to evaluate the effect of insurance on health seeking behaviour using propensity score matching.

Results: We find that on average individuals enrolled in the insurance scheme are significantly more likely to obtain prescriptions, visit clinics and seek formal health care when sick.

Conclusion: These results suggest that the government's objective to increase access to the formal health care sector through health insurance has at least partially been achieved.

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