Abstract
Health care financing is a major development challenge and health policy concern to policy makers and health care consumers. Millions of households in developing countries have no financial access to health care. Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was established in 2003 to provide access to health care for all residents of Ghana. Though the NHIS has somewhat increased financial access to health care, barely a third of the population have health insurance and enrollment rates are low and undulating, and inequalities in coverage are pervasive. The study aimed to estimate the predictors of NHIS enrollment to ascertain the most significant factors for policy implementation to increase coverage. We conducted an empirical analysis of data extracted from Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) Round 6, 2012-2013, (n = 65,663). A logistic regression model was employed for the multivariate analysis. The results show that that age, higher income, being female, higher education, prior medical seeking, place of residence, significantly predicted NHIS enrollment positively. Rural residence, poverty, unemployment, and being male were inversely associated with enrollment. Adopting measures that will encourage family and group enrollment, and targeting men, youth, the poor and rural residents, and replicating global best practices could increase enrollment in NHIS.
