Perception and experiences of residents in the National Capital Region to social health insurance
List of Authors
  • Khristine P. Sosa , Raphael Andrei S. Bautista

Keyword
  • experiences, health, insurance, knowledge, awareness, perception, social

Abstract
  • The Philippines had faced challenges in dealing with its healthcare system, leading to the passage of the Universal Health Care Law, which stipulates responses or strategies to establish health policies addressing a wide range of health issues. Lack of social health insurance awareness is identified as an essential issue together with health inequities and insufficient access to health care. Thus, the present study determined the existing knowledge, perceptions, and experiences of the adults aged 18-59 years old residing in the National Capital Region. Data were collected through an online quantitative cross-sectional survey. A chi-square analysis test determined the correlation between monthly income and access to social health insurance. The results showed that among the 434 respondents, most were from the age group of 18 to 30, while 51-59 years old had the least number of respondents. 217 or 50% of these respondents have social health insurance. From the age groups of 31-40, 41-50, and 51-59, the majority owned social health insurance, while a majority from the age group of 18-30 do not own any health insurance. Respondents agreed that they have prior knowledge on insurance schemes available, general cost, and benefits. As for their perception, majority strongly agreed that it is better to take health insurance at a younger age and their top three factors in applying, in order of highest to lowest, are the trustworthiness of the company, low premium cost, and more coverage of the disease. There is a significant correlation between the monthly income and access to social health insurance based on the chi-square analysis test, which elicited a value of 37.244 that is higher than the critical value of 7.78. In conclusion, this study shows that the participants' perceptions of social health insurance are indeed affected by their experiences, as influenced by various factors.

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