O. Erinoso, A. Oyapero, Oluwabukunmi Familoye, A. Omosun, A. Adeniran, Y. Kuyinu
INTRODUCTION Health insurance is a health-financing mechanism to protect people from catastrophic healthcare costs and limits out-of-pocket spending on healthcare, which is directly linked to poverty. This study assesses the extent of health-insurance uptake and associated factors in Lagos, Nigeria. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional survey of consenting adults residing in Lagos, Nigeria. Participants were enrolled at general outpatient clinics of four public health facilities in Lagos State. Sociodemographic characteristics and data on health-insurance uptake were obtained and grouped into uninsured, National HealthInsurance Scheme (NHIS) and Private Health-Insurance (PHI). Factors associated with health-insurance uptake was determined using chi-squared tests and logistic regression models. Statistical significance was placed at p<0.05. RESULTS A total of 1000 respondents were enrolled in the study. Overall, 9.5% of participants had health-insurance: NHIS (5.6%) and PHI (3.9%). Males had a higher healthinsurance uptake than females (p=0.035). Respondents who were married had higher odds of health-insurance uptake than those that were single (AOR=2.23; 95% CI: 1.20–4.16; p=0.01). Similarly, respondents who had a secondary-school diploma had higher odds of having a health insurance compared to those with less than a secondary-school education (AOR=5.20; 95% CI: 1.14–23.68; p=0.03). CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest a low rate of healthinsurance uptake in the population. Being male, married and possessing a secondary school diploma or higher were associated with higher odds of health insurance uptake. Policy measures should focus on expanding access to health insurance, particularly among the less educated and the informal employment sector. Research Paper | Population Medicine Popul. Med. 2023;5(July):19 https://doi.org/10.18332/popmed/169666 2 and inequalities3. UHC is a multisectoral issue that requires legislation, budgetary allocations, and regulatory oversight, and it involves several governmental and non-governmental sectors for its implementation. Financing health services is essential to achieving UHC, and health insurance is a critical component of financing options to achieve qualitative healthcare4. In Nigeria, healthcare is funded through different sources; however, current estimates suggest that over 70% of Nigerians still depend on out-of-pocket payments, making it the country’s major source of healthcare financing5. According to the World Bank, out-of-pocket spending on healthcare is directly linked to an increase in the number of people who fall into extreme poverty6. With over 90 million Nigerians living in poverty7, financial protection is crucial so more people are not pushed into extreme poverty due to healthcare costs. The Nigerian government established the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in response to increased out-ofpocket payments and the call for a movement towards UHC8. Although NHIS started its operation in
{"title":"Predictors of health insurance uptake among residents\u0000of Lagos, Nigeria","authors":"O. Erinoso, A. Oyapero, Oluwabukunmi Familoye, A. Omosun, A. Adeniran, Y. Kuyinu","doi":"10.18332/popmed/169666","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18332/popmed/169666","url":null,"abstract":"INTRODUCTION Health insurance is a health-financing mechanism to protect people from catastrophic healthcare costs and limits out-of-pocket spending on healthcare, which is directly linked to poverty. This study assesses the extent of health-insurance uptake and associated factors in Lagos, Nigeria. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional survey of consenting adults residing in Lagos, Nigeria. Participants were enrolled at general outpatient clinics of four public health facilities in Lagos State. Sociodemographic characteristics and data on health-insurance uptake were obtained and grouped into uninsured, National HealthInsurance Scheme (NHIS) and Private Health-Insurance (PHI). Factors associated with health-insurance uptake was determined using chi-squared tests and logistic regression models. Statistical significance was placed at p<0.05. RESULTS A total of 1000 respondents were enrolled in the study. Overall, 9.5% of participants had health-insurance: NHIS (5.6%) and PHI (3.9%). Males had a higher healthinsurance uptake than females (p=0.035). Respondents who were married had higher odds of health-insurance uptake than those that were single (AOR=2.23; 95% CI: 1.20–4.16; p=0.01). Similarly, respondents who had a secondary-school diploma had higher odds of having a health insurance compared to those with less than a secondary-school education (AOR=5.20; 95% CI: 1.14–23.68; p=0.03). CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest a low rate of healthinsurance uptake in the population. Being male, married and possessing a secondary school diploma or higher were associated with higher odds of health insurance uptake. Policy measures should focus on expanding access to health insurance, particularly among the less educated and the informal employment sector. Research Paper | Population Medicine Popul. Med. 2023;5(July):19 https://doi.org/10.18332/popmed/169666 2 and inequalities3. UHC is a multisectoral issue that requires legislation, budgetary allocations, and regulatory oversight, and it involves several governmental and non-governmental sectors for its implementation. Financing health services is essential to achieving UHC, and health insurance is a critical component of financing options to achieve qualitative healthcare4. In Nigeria, healthcare is funded through different sources; however, current estimates suggest that over 70% of Nigerians still depend on out-of-pocket payments, making it the country’s major source of healthcare financing5. According to the World Bank, out-of-pocket spending on healthcare is directly linked to an increase in the number of people who fall into extreme poverty6. With over 90 million Nigerians living in poverty7, financial protection is crucial so more people are not pushed into extreme poverty due to healthcare costs. The Nigerian government established the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in response to increased out-ofpocket payments and the call for a movement towards UHC8. Although NHIS started its operation in ","PeriodicalId":33626,"journal":{"name":"Population Medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49240627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}