The Health Insurance Enrolment and Utilization of Maternal Healthcare Services among Women in Kenya

Abstract

The Third Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) requires governments to provide good health for their populations by the year 2030. To achieve this, the Kenyan government has embarked on implementing various programmes targeting women. For instance, the government initially abolished the maternity services fee to enhance the utilization of maternal health care services. For efficient and effective management of the maternal healthcare services programme, the government transferred the services from the Ministry of Health to the National Hospital Insurance Fund. According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) report, these policies led to an increase in enrolment in health insurance from 19.5 percent to 26 percent of women. Despite the improvement in health insurance uptake, the mortality rates are still higher than seventy deaths per 100,000 live births. One of the probable causes of these mortality rates may be due to delivery at home. A woman who delivers at home may not get medical attention in case of an emergency. To improve maternal health outcomes, there is a need to investigate the relationship between enrolment in health insurance and utilization of maternal healthcare services among Kenyan women. To achieve this objective, the study uses secondary data sourced from the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS). The study estimates this relationship using the Propensity Score Matching method. The results reveal that women who have enrolled for health insurance are 3.6 percent more likely to utilize maternal health care services than those not enrolled. The study, therefore, recommends the formulation of policies targeting the enrolment of women in health insurance schemes.