Financial Benefits Of Enlisting In Mutual Health Schemes Among Low-Income Households In Kirinyaga County, Kenya

Purpose: Examining the financial benefits of enlisting in mutual health schemes among low-income households in Kirinyaga County Material and methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed, where 315 participants were picked using multistage sampling techniques. Semi-structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews were the primary data collection methods, with both descriptive and inferential statistics being employed at the analytic stage. Findings: Results indicate that 59.3% of households utilising out-of-pocket benefited from membership to cushion their family from difficulties of accessing healthcare services. Other financial benefits include protection against the cost of illness, providing access to prioritised care, third-party influence for non-members to subscribe, and productive value such as accessing quality treatment, improving living standards, avoiding debts, and increasing their saving kitty. Enlisting to MHO also reduced gender-based, education-based, and cadre-based sociodemographic differentials. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: While MHOs are critical in reducing household healthcare expense, improving financial accessibility, as well as redressing sociodemographic differentials during care-seeking events among low-income households, there is a need for preparing reports on beneficiaries to help the management understand social dynamics surrounding the operations of the schemes. There is also a need for investigating healthcare seeking behaviours of beneficiaries as some persons did not utilise mutual schemes. There is also need for further research to validate the contribution of mutual health schemes in other areas as well as assess strategies of increasing the access for all socioeconomic factions