This paper uses the roll-out of the national health insurance in Ghana to assess the cushioning effect of coverage on the financial consequences of health shocks and resulting changes in coping behaviors. The analysis finds a strong reduction in medical expenditures, preventing households from cutting non-food consumption and causing a decrease in the volume of received remittances as well as the labor supply of healthy adult household members. Moreover, the paper presents evidence that the insurance scheme reduced the likelihood that households experiencing a health shock pulled their children out of school to put them to work. Avoidance of such costly coping mechanisms is potentially an important part of the social value of formal health insurance.
Details
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Author
Garcia Mandico,Silvia, Reichert,Arndt Rudiger, Strupat,Christoph
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Document Date
2019/09/11
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Document Type
Policy Research Working Paper
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Report Number
WPS9004
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Volume No
1
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Total Volume(s)
1
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Country
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Region
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Disclosure Date
2019/09/11
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Disclosure Status
Disclosed
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Doc Name
The Social Value of Health Insurance Results from Ghana
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Keywords
child labor; health shock; medical expenditure; remittance; labor earning; universal access to health care; national health insurance fund; activities of daily living; national health insurance scheme; public health insurance scheme; Below the Poverty Line; measure of health status; primary health care services; consumption; health care utilization; labor supply; child laborer; school enrollment; amount of remittance; health insurance coverage; days of illness
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Citation
Garcia Mandico,Silvia Reichert,Arndt Rudiger Strupat,Christoph
The Social Value of Health Insurance Results from Ghana (English). Policy Research working paper,no. WPS 9004 Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/715441568214752631/The-Social-Value-of-Health-Insurance-Results-from-Ghana