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Identifying barriers to move to better health coverage: preferences for health insurance benefits among the rural poor population in La Guajira, Colombia
Author(s) -
Amaya Jeannette Liliana,
Ruiz Fernando,
Trujillo Antonio J.,
Buttorff Christine
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the international journal of health planning and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1099-1751
pISSN - 0749-6753
DOI - 10.1002/hpm.2268
Subject(s) - subsidy , population , business , health insurance , payment , health policy , health care , socioeconomic status , actuarial science , economic growth , public economics , environmental health , economics , medicine , finance , market economy
SUMMARY Even though access to health insurance in Colombia has improved since the implementation of the 1993 health reforms (Law 100), universal coverage has not yet been accomplished. There is still a segment of the population under the low‐income (subsidized) health insurance policy or without health insurance altogether. The purpose of this research was to identify preferences and behavior regarding health insurance among the subsidized rural population in La Guajira, Colombia, and to understand why that population remains under the subsidized health insurance policy. The field experiment gathered information from 400 households regarding their socioeconomic situation, health conditions, and preferences for health insurance characteristics. Results suggest that the surveyed population gives priority to expanded family coverage, physician and hospital choice, and access to specialists, rather than to attributes associated with co‐payments or premiums. That indicates that people value healthcare benefits and family coverage more than health insurance expenses, and policy makers could use these preferences to enroll subsidized population into the contributory regime. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.