ASSESSMENT OF THE LEVEL OF AWARENESS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME AMONG WORKERS IN

KADUNA METROPOLIS, NIGERIA.

¹Owu, E., ¹ Ifatimehin, O.O. and ²Shaka, S.

¹Department of Public Administration, University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria.

² Forestry Research Institute Federal Ministry of Environment, Kaduna, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

E-mail: oifatimehin@rocketmail.com

Abstract: The perennial problems in Nigeria’s health system informed the decision by the government in 1999 to sign into law the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which was meant to serve as a major strategy for effecting the needed change, in function, form, structure and performance of Nigeria’s health system. However, there is perceived lack of awareness of the effectiveness of NHIS among workers resulting to non acceptance and enrolment in the scheme. This study assessed the level of awareness of the effectiveness of (NHIS) in selected Federal Establishments in Kaduna Metropolis. The study is a survey design; data were obtained by questionnaire, textbook, journals, conference paper etc. A total of 200 questionnaires were administered but 151 were recovered valid and analyzed using simple percentage and frequency tables. The analysis was done through the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) (f) was used to test the hypothesis, decision of significant difference among variables were based on 5% (0.05) A significant value that is less than 0.05 was adjudged and the null hypothesis accepted. The study also used the multi stage approach to select the federal establishment and respondents respectively. The study found that, there is a very high level of awareness of NHIS among workers, the performance of healthcare providers is satisfactory, the workers have positive attitudinal disposition towards the utilization of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), and therefore, there is a high level of acceptance of the scheme. The study concludes that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is effective and it is embraced by workers in Kaduna Metropolis. The study hence recommended among others that NHIS awareness should be spread across to the states and private establishment in Kaduna Metropolis.