Study Results from Queen’s University Update Understanding of Health Insurance (Is the Pro-Poor Premium Exemption Policy of Ghana’s NHIS Reducing…

Study Results from Queen's University Update Understanding of Health Insurance (Is the Pro-Poor Premium Exemption Policy of Ghana's NHIS Reducing Disparities Among the Elderly?)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Data detailed on Health Insurance have been presented. According to news reporting from Kingston, Canada, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "Under the act that established the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), persons 70 years of age or above are automatically enrolled in the scheme and therefore can access health services free at the point of use. This suggests that the elderly who are unable to afford the premiums of private health insurance can enrol in the NHIS thereby eliminating the possibility of disparities in health insurance coverage."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Queen's University, "Notwithstanding, few studies have examined health insurance coverage among the elderly in Ghana. The lack of studies on the elderly in Ghana may be due to limited data on this important demographic group. Using data from the Study on Global Ageing and Health and applying logit models, this paper investigates whether the pro-poor exemption policy is eliminating disparities among the elderly aged 70 years and older. The results show that disparities in insurance coverage among the elderly are based on respondents' socio-economic circumstances, mainly their wealth status."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "The study underscores the need for eliminating health access disparities among the elderly and suggests that the current premium exemptions alone may not be the solution to eliminating disparities in health insurance coverage among the elderly."

For more information on this research see: Is the Pro-Poor Premium Exemption Policy of Ghana's NHIS Reducing Disparities Among the Elderly? Population Research and Policy Review, 2017;36(2):231-249. Population Research and Policy Review can be contacted at: Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 Gz Dordrecht, Netherlands. (Springer - www.springer.com; Population Research and Policy Review - www.springerlink.com/content/0167-5923/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting V.Z. Kuuire, Queen's University, Dept. of Geog & Planning, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada. Additional authors for this research include E.Y. Tenkorang, A. Rishworth, I. Luginaah and A.E. Yawson.

Keywords for this news article include: Kingston, Ontario, Canada, North and Central America, Health Insurance, Queen's University.

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