IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/aphecp/v20y2022i2d10.1007_s40258-021-00691-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Willingness to Pay for National Health Insurance: A Contingent Valuation Study Among Patients Visiting Public Hospitals in Melaka, Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Robin Tiow Heng Tan

    (Ministry of Health)

  • Siti Zaleha Abdul Rasid

    (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
    University of Business and Technology)

  • Wan Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail

    (Sulaiman AlRajhi University)

  • Janiza Tobechan

    (Melaka General Hospital, Ministry of Health)

  • Edwin Tiow Yong Tan

    (Bukit Katil Clinic)

  • Alia Natasha Yusof

    (Alor Gajah Hospital, Ministry of Health)

  • Jia Hui Low

    (Jasin Hospital, Ministry of Health)

Abstract

Background The Malaysian public healthcare system is tax funded, with healthcare costs highly subsidized by the Government. The current health financing is not sustainable to cover all the healthcare resources. Introducing a national health insurance (NHI), a prepayment method, would protect the population from financial hardship by reducing out-of-pocket payment, minimizing the barrier to accessing health and achieving equitable healthcare. Studies on the willingness to pay (WTP) for NHI are available in different contexts; however, little was found in Malaysia. In addition, factors affecting the WTP for NHI have been less researched in the Malaysian context. Objective This study investigates the WTP for NHI and factors influencing it in Melaka, Malaysia. Method Using the contingent valuation method, the researchers distributed a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire to 489 respondents in three leading public hospitals from 1 to 9 November 2019. Multi-stage sampling forms the selection of respondents. Respondents were presented with a hypothetical scenario on NHI and asked whether they would be willing to pay for NHI. Chi-square was used to examine the association between categorical independent variables and WTP for NHI, and binary logistic regression was applied to determine the variables with the most predictive effect towards WTP for NHI. Results Out of 462 usable responses, 344 respondents (74.5%) were willing to pay for NHI. The majority (51.3%) of the respondents were willing to pay 15 Malaysian Ringgit (3.70 US dollars) or more for the NHI scheme. Chi-square analysis revealed that age, marital status, education level, employment status, chronic diseases, and perception towards NHI were significantly associated with WTP for NHI. Binary regression analysis found that marital status and perception towards NHI have the most predictive effect on respondents’ WTP for NHI. Conclusion This study revealed that the majority of the respondents are willing to pay for NHI if implemented in Malaysia. The findings lay a foundation for implementing a future NHI framework in Malaysia and reference future health financing research.

Suggested Citation

  • Robin Tiow Heng Tan & Siti Zaleha Abdul Rasid & Wan Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail & Janiza Tobechan & Edwin Tiow Yong Tan & Alia Natasha Yusof & Jia Hui Low, 2022. "Willingness to Pay for National Health Insurance: A Contingent Valuation Study Among Patients Visiting Public Hospitals in Melaka, Malaysia," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 255-267, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:aphecp:v:20:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s40258-021-00691-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s40258-021-00691-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40258-021-00691-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40258-021-00691-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guy Carrin & Chris James, 2005. "Social Health Insurance: Key Factors Affecting the Transition Towards Universal Coverage," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 58(1), pages 45-64, January.
    2. Guy Carrin, 2002. "Social health insurance in developing countries: A continuing challenge," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(2), pages 57-69.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eric Nsiah-Boateng & Justice Nonvignon & Genevieve Cecelia Aryeetey & Paola Salari & Fabrizio Tediosi & Patricia Akweongo & Moses Aikins, 2019. "Sociodemographic determinants of health insurance enrolment and dropout in urban district of Ghana: a cross-sectional study," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. William C. Hsiao & R. Paul Shaw, 2007. "Social Health Insurance for Developing Nations," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6860.
    3. Maia Sieverding & Cynthia Onyango & Lauren Suchman, 2018. "Private healthcare provider experiences with social health insurance schemes: Findings from a qualitative study in Ghana and Kenya," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Simona Rodat, 2021. "Use of the Internet by Older People for Health-Related Issues: A Case Study of German Seniors," Anuarul Universitatii „Petre Andrei” din Iasi / Year-Book „Petre Andrei” University from Iasi, Fascicula: Drept, Stiinte Economice, Stiinte Politice / Fascicle: Law, Economic Sciences, Political Scien, Editura Lumen, Department of Economics, vol. 28, pages 216-244, December.
    5. Jung, Juergen & Tran, Chung, 2022. "Social health insurance: A quantitative exploration," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    6. Ying Zhang & Rui Wang & Xinyi Yao, 2019. "Assessing determinants of health care prepayment in China: Economic growth or government willingness? New evidence from the continuous wavelet analysis," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 694-712, January.
    7. Molina, Oswaldo, 2018. "Innovation in an unfavorable context: Local mining suppliers in Peru," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 34-48.
    8. Mohammad Abu‐Zaineh & Olivier Chanel & Khaled Makhloufi, 2022. "Estimating willingness to pay for public health insurance while accounting for protest responses: A further step towards universal health coverage in Tunisia?," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 2809-2821, September.
    9. Dengfeng Wu & Fang Yu & Wei Nie, 2018. "Improvement of the reduction in catastrophic health expenditure in China’s public health insurance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(4), pages 1-21, April.
    10. Samuel Antwi & Xicang Zhao & Eugene OwareKoranteng & Boadi Kofi eric, 2014. "Gender disparities in the Ghana national health insurance claims: An econometric analysis," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 4(1), pages 70-81, January.
    11. Weon-Young Lee & Ian Shaw, 2014. "The Impact of Out-of-Pocket Payments on Health Care Inequity: The Case of National Health Insurance in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:aphecp:v:20:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s40258-021-00691-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.