Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31775904›Full record

ArticleJournal of health, population, and nutrition2019

Unawareness of health insurance expiration status among women of reproductive age in Northern Ghana: implications for achieving universal health coverage.

Edmund Wedam Kanmiki, Ayaga A Bawah, James Akazili, Isaiah Agorinyah, John Koku Awoonor-Williams, James F Phillips, Kassem M Kassak

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of health, population, and nutrition, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
1.4field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.

Edmund Wedam KanmikiRegional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana. eddy100@hotmail.com.ORCID 0000-0001-7175-5222
Ayaga A BawahRegional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
James AkaziliResearch and Development Division, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana.
Isaiah AgorinyahSwiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
John Koku Awoonor-WilliamsPolicy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana.
James F PhillipsDepartment of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, USA.
Kassem M KassakDepartment of Health Management and Policy, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
Ghana Health Service · GHUniversity of Ghana · GHAmerican University of Beirut · LBColumbia University · USSwiss Tropical and Public Health Institute · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundGhana implemented a national health insurance scheme in 2005 to promote the provision of accessible, affordable, and equitable healthcare by eliminating service user fees. Termed the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), its active enrollment has remained low despite a decade of program implementation. This study assesses factors explaining this problem by examining the correlates of insurance status unawareness among women of reproductive age.

methodsIn 2015, a random probability cross-sectional survey of 5914 reproductive-aged women was compiled in the Upper East Region, an impoverished and remote region in Northern Ghana. During the survey, two questions related to the NHIS were asked: "Have you ever registered with the NHIS?" and "Do you currently have a valid NHIS card?" If the answer to the second question was yes, the respondents were requested to show their insurance card, thereby enabling interviewers to determine if the NHIS requirement of annual renewal had been met. Results are based on the tabulation of the prevalence of unawareness status, tests of bivariate associations, and multivariate estimation of regression adjusted effects.

resultsOf the 5914 respondents, 3614 (61.1%) who reported that they were actively enrolled in the NHIS could produce their insurance cards upon request. Of these respondents, 1243 (34.4%) had expired cards. Factors that significantly predicted unawareness of card expiration were occupation, district of residence, and socio-economic status. Relative to other occupational categories, farmers were the most likely to be unaware of their card invalidity. Respondents residing in three of the study districts were less aware of their insurance card validity than the other four study districts. Unawareness was observed to increase monotonically with relative poverty.

conclusionUnawareness of insurance care validity status contributes to low active enrollment in Ghana's NHIS. Educational messages aimed at improving health insurance coverage should include the promotion of annual renewal and also should focus on the information needs of farmers and low socio-economic groups.

Indexed as

Insurance BenefitsNational Health ProgramsUniversal Health InsuranceAdolescentAdultCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleGhanaHealth Services AccessibilityHumansMedically UninsuredMiddle AgedPovertySurveys and QuestionnairesWomenYoung AdultGhanaHealth insuranceUnawarenessUniversal health coverage

Identifiers

PMID31775904
PMCPMC6882328
OpenAlexW2991249645

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.