Factors determining demand for health insurance in Tanzania.

Health insurance prevents people from enduring fiscal burden when ill by providing money to purchase for health care; improves access to health care services as well as reduces the psychological torture and stress when severely ill. It is reported that only 27 percent of the population in Tanzania can afford to finance their medical expenses on their own, however, the nation‘s government expenditure on health has been below the Abuja Declaration minimum limit of 15 percent of the total government budget. Furthermore, only 9 percent of the total population in Tanzania is covered by health insurance. The aim of this study was to establish factors that determine the demand for health insurance in Tanzania. The study uses a cross-sectional type of survey data which were collected as the sixth wave of Demographic and Health Data Survey (2015-16) by the National Bureau of Statistics Tanzania. The study used a sample of 12,563 households to analyze factors determining the demand for health insurance in Tanzania. Descriptive statistics show that only 11 percent of the households given the sample above are covered by health insurance while 89 percent of the households do not have health insurance. A binary logit regression model was employed to determine the demand for health insurance in Tanzania and the study found out that wealth, education, health status, gender, age and Health insurance prevents people from enduring fiscal burden when ill by providing money to purchase for health care; improves access to health care services as well as reduces the psychological torture and stress when severely ill. It is reported that only 27 percent of the population in Tanzania can afford to finance their medical expenses on their own, however, the nation‘s government expenditure on health has been below the Abuja Declaration minimum limit of 15 percent of the total government budget. Furthermore, only 9 percent of the total population in Tanzania is covered by health insurance. The aim of this study was to establish factors that determine the demand for health insurance in Tanzania. The study uses a cross-sectional type of survey data which were collected as the sixth wave of Demographic and Health Data Survey (2015-16) by the National Bureau of Statistics Tanzania. The study used a sample of 12,563 households to analyze factors determining the demand for health insurance in Tanzania. Descriptive statistics show that only 11 percent of the households given the sample above are covered by health insurance while 89 percent of the households do not have health insurance. A binary logit regression model was employed to determine the demand for health insurance in Tanzania and the study found out that wealth, education, health status, gender, age and being divorced significantly determine the demand for health insurance at 1 percent level of significance. The findings suggest that the government of Tanzania should widen her tax base and obtain more revenue so as to increase its spending in the health sector and be able to minimize health insurance charges and hence encourage a greater population to join in the health insurance schemes. In addition to this, policymakers should provide educational programmes so as people can be aware of health insurance and all its benefits.