Determinants of Willingness to pay for Employment-Based Health Insurance Among Governmental School Workers in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

School workers constitute the bulk of public workers in Saudi Arabia. Most of these workers seek public health care services through the Ministry of Health, which is characterised by an overloaded service. Consequently, the government is planning to introduce employment-based health insurance. However, government employees’ willingness to pay (WTP) for health insurance was not investigated. This study explores the feasibility and acceptability of employment-based health insurance by examining public school workers’ WTP. Methods: six hundred and twenty-second number participants from Riyadh city were interviewed from September to October 2020 using an online structured questionnaire. The contingent valuation method with a payment card was used to assess WTP among the participants. This study also determined the association between the willingness to participate and WTP for health insurance respondents’ demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Chi-square and multiple linear regression analyses were used to analyse the data. The majority (76%) with an average monthly mean of 77.9 Saudi Riyal (SAR) ($20.7) per capita. Male, had higher educated, and those diagnosed with chronic disease were more likely to report a willingness to participate and/or pay for health insurance ( P > .005). This study demonstrates that WTP for employment-based health insurance depends on workers’ characteristics. The results of this study may be of use to policymakers to help with a set insurance premium, priority setting and fund allocation.

Willingness to Pay for Employment-Based Health Insurance: A Study among Government Employees in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia

“…The findings showed that approximately 50% of government employees would be happy to contribute to and purchase the proposed health insurance program. Nonetheless, the proportion of individuals who would willingly purchase health insurance (49.6%) was found to be lower than in a previous study (77.9%), which was carried out amongst public school workers in Saudi Arabia [18]. Other studies performed in the context of Saudi Arabia have revealed that a higher percentage of participants would be happy to purchase national health insurance.…”

“…The mean WTP for health insurance identified in this study was higher than in other studies carried out in Saudi Arabia. For example, a study among workers in public schools in Riyadh found that individuals would be willing to pay 77.9 SAR per month (US$ 20.7) on average for an employment-based health insurance policy [18]. A further study performed by [15] with the general population revealed that households were willing to pay a mean amount of 50 SAR (US$ 13.3) per family per month [15].…”

“…Reliable and validated questionnaire tools used in previous studies were used to develop the research questionnaire used in the present study [15,18]. The questionnaire was designed to obtain participants' socioeconomic characteristics, such as their gender, age, marital status, educational qualifications, family size, monthly household income, possession of private health insurance, and the existence of chronic diseases in the family.…”

“…In the KSA, few studies have explored the willingness to pay (WTP) for health insurance among the general population and specific employment category in the government sector [15][16][17][18]. These studies were conducted in big cities where adequate medical infrastructure was available.…”

“…The findings revealed that satisfied patients would be happy to pay for healthcare insurance, as long as they received comprehensive information about it. Alharbi [18] examined the viability and WTP of employment-based healthcare insurance amongst public school workers in Riyadh city, with the results indicating that males and higher-educated individuals, as well as individuals with chronic illnesses, were more willing to join and contribute (p<0.05).…”