Public awareness and knowledge of the National Health Insurance in South Africa

Abstract

IntroductionIndividuals residing in Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape provinces who had access to public health services were surveyed to determine public knowledge and awareness of the new National Health Insurance (NHI).MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted and a total of 748 adult respondents were sampled using a two-stage systematic sampling design. Data were collected using mobile phone assisted personal interviews.ResultsThe study found that 80.3% of the respondents were aware of the NHI and slightly less than half (49.8%) of the respondents did not have knowledge of how the NHI works and 71.8% lacked awareness about the origin of the development of the NHI concept in South Africa. The knowledge of what the NHI would pay for was poor and 48.1% knew that the NHI Fund would pay for medical expenses if a person got sick and 45.7% knew that with health insurance, basic health requirement is ensured and that if one becomes ill, medical treatment would be paid for by the NHI Fund, 50.9% of respondents did not understand how the NHI Fund will pay for health care received, only 44.8% understood how the NHI will pay for health care services received.ConclusionThe public education campaigns to increase knowledge and understanding of the NHI scheme might have been inadequate hence might not have penetrated many communities. It is recommended that a comprehensive community consultation plan be established to increase awareness and knowledge of the NHI among community members targeting clinics, schools, pension pay points and other community sites.

Public engagement in the development of the National Health Insurance: a study involving patients from a central hospital in South Africa.

“…The finding that majority of the participants of the present study were not aware of the NHI was unanticipated, because that the NHI policy process commenced in 2011 and this study was conducted 6 years later. The finding that the awareness levels of the NHI were low in the present study was also inconsistent with a similar paper by by Setswe, et al found a much higher proportion, of 80.3%, of their participants were aware of the NHI 18 . This awareness percentage is virtually the inverse of what the present study found.…”

“…Even though awareness on the NHI was high in the study by Setswe et al, the majority of participants had limited understanding of important concepts of health insurance. 18 The difference in the awareness levels can be attributed to the difference in the sample population involved when compared to the present study. This research focused on patients only and was conducted in a central hospital department, which is situated in an urban area only, which is not a NHI pilot site.…”

“…The questionnaire had close-ended questions and comprised of a demographic component, questions on awareness on the NHI and involvement in the NHI policy making process. The awareness and questions were drawn from a questionnaire that was developed by the National Department of Health of South Africa that was used in another similar study 18 . Prior to the collection of data, a pre-test of the questionnaire was conducted, where 10 participants were interviewed at the same study site, to determine feasibility of the study.…”

Knowledge on National Free Health Services among Preclinical Medical Students

“…The finding of this research showed that the range of age was 20-59 years and majority of them were female. 3 Another study was conducted among health professionals showed that majority of them were female and majority were nurses. 11 Our finding showed that nearly half (42.03%) of the students know the meaning of free health services.…”

“…2 Free health service program provides essential health care services free of charge to all users at Primary Health Care Centers, Health Posts. 3 Similarly, outpatient, inpatient, emergency services and been regarded as one of the responsibilities of the state. The constitutional provision has set the platform for commencement of free health service program in Nepal.…”