Patan Academy of Health Sciences Reports Findings in Health Services (Factors affecting health insurance utilization among insured population: evidence from health insurance program of Bhaktapur district of Nepal): Health and Medicine – Health Services

Education Daily Report

2023 FEB 24 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Education Daily Report -- New research on Health and Medicine - Health Services is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Lalitpur, Nepal, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “The Government of Nepal introduced the family-based health insurance program in 2016 to increase financial protection and improve access to health care services. The study aimed to assess factors associated with the utilization of health insurance among the insured population in an urban district of Nepal.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the Patan Academy of Health Sciences, “A cross-sectional survey using face-to-face interviews was conducted in 224 households in the Bhaktapur district of Nepal. Household heads were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Logistic regression with weighted analysis was done to identify predictors of service utilization among the insured residents. The prevalence of health insurance service utilization at the household level in the Bhaktapur district was 77.2% (n = 173/224). The number of elder members in the family (AOR 2.7, 95% CI 1.09-7.07), having a family member with chronic illness (AOR 5.10, 95% CI 1.48-17.56), willingness to continue health insurance (AOR 2.18, 95% CI 1.47-3.25) and membership duration (AOR 1.14, 95% CI 1.05-1.24) were significantly associated with the utilization of the health insurance at the household level. The study identified a particular group of the population who were more likely to utilize health insurance services, including the chronically ill and elderly.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Health insurance program in Nepal would benefit from strategies to increase population coverage in health insurance, improve the quality of health services, and retain members in the program.”

For more information on this research see: Factors affecting health insurance utilization among insured population: evidence from health insurance program of Bhaktapur district of Nepal. BMC Health Services Research, 2023;23(1):159. BMC Health Services Research can be contacted at: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England. (BioMed Central - http://www.biomedcentral.com/; BMC Health Services Research - http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmchealthservres/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Sushmita Ghimire, School of Public Health, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Lagankhel, Lalitpur, Nepal. Additional authors for this research include Sailaja Ghimire, Pratik Khanal, Reshu Agrawal Sagtani and Sudarshan Paudel.

Publisher contact information for the journal BMC Health Services Research is: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England.