Preferences for Public and Private Healthcare Providers among Enrollees of Gombe State Contributory Healthcare Scheme

Any nation’s healthcare system consists of private and public healthcare outlets with a network of health facilities providing primary, secondary, and tertiary services to satisfy customers’ needs and wants. Gombe State Government established the Gombe State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency popularly called (GoHealth) through a law in 2019, it was established in line with the decentralization of the National Health Insurance Agency (NHIA) that paved the way for the establishment of State Social Health Insurance Schemes (SSHIS) in the country to provide an affordable care. This study determined the preferences of public and private healthcare providers among enrollees of the Gombe State Contributory Healthcare Scheme. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 330 enrollees by multistage sampling. The age of the respondents ranges from 21 to 60 years with a mean of 41.0 ± 4.2 years. Most enrollees (233, 70.6 %) had good knowledge of the services offered by GoHealth. The preferred facility of choice was public for most enrollees (216, 65.5 %). Educational level of the enrollees, grade level, short waiting time during consultation, proximity of health facility to home, and drug availability at the health facility were the factors that were significantly associated with the choice of health care provider. Strict monitoring by the agency (GoHealth), provision of quality drugs at the healthcare facility, and registration of enrollees to the nearest health facilities (HF) by GoHealth could improve healthcare delivery and achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC).