A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone

Joseph Kamara; Mireia Jofre Bonet; Alice Mesnard

doi:doi:10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11

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A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone

Joseph Kamara, Mireia Jofre Bonet, Alice Mesnard

Published in International Journal of Health Economics and Policy (Volume 3, Issue 1)

Received: 17 March 2018 Accepted: 7 May 2018 Published: 29 May 2018

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Abstract

The current health care financing system in Sierra Leone is unsustainable and poses challenges ranging from increased in out of pocket health care expenditure to accessibility problems, particularly in rural areas where living standards are low and health care facilities are scarce. This paper investigates whether privately financed health Insurance can improve the accessibility to formal health care in Sierra Leone and mitigate the effects of OOPs on poor households. To do so, we estimate the Willingness To Pay (WTP) for health insurance among informal sector workers in Sierra Leone using a Discrete Choice Experiment approach. Eight informal sector activities were selected namely – petty trading, subsistence farming, commercial bike riding, cattle rearing, fishing, tailoring, mining and quarrying. A random effect logit model is used to estimate households’ WTP for an improvement in coverage, choice of health care provider and a reduction in waiting time. Our study reveals that households were WTP more to have better attributes (better coverage, less waiting time) and to go to a faith - based provider. Our findings also suggest that location – rural versus urban – matters in determining the WTP since urban households were WTP more for health insurance than their rural counterparts, (SLL 54,348 or $7.34) and (SLL 37,250.5 or $5.03), respectively.

Published in	International Journal of Health Economics and Policy (Volume 3, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11
Page(s)	1-12
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2018. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Health Insurance, Willingness to Pay, Discrete Choice Experiment, Informal Sector, Sierra Leone, Sierra Leonean Leones

References

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APA Style

Joseph Kamara, Mireia Jofre Bonet, Alice Mesnard. (2018). A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone. International Journal of Health Economics and Policy, 3(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11

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ACS Style

Joseph Kamara; Mireia Jofre Bonet; Alice Mesnard. A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone. Int. J. Health Econ. Policy 2018, 3(1), 1-12. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11

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AMA Style

Joseph Kamara, Mireia Jofre Bonet, Alice Mesnard. A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone. Int J Health Econ Policy. 2018;3(1):1-12. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11

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@article{10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11,
  author = {Joseph Kamara and Mireia Jofre Bonet and Alice Mesnard},
  title = {A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone},
  journal = {International Journal of Health Economics and Policy},
  volume = {3},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1-12},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hep.20180301.11},
  abstract = {The current health care financing system in Sierra Leone is unsustainable and poses challenges ranging from increased in out of pocket health care expenditure to accessibility problems, particularly in rural areas where living standards are low and health care facilities are scarce. This paper investigates whether privately financed health Insurance can improve the accessibility to formal health care in Sierra Leone and mitigate the effects of OOPs on poor households. To do so, we estimate the Willingness To Pay (WTP) for health insurance among informal sector workers in Sierra Leone using a Discrete Choice Experiment approach. Eight informal sector activities were selected namely – petty trading, subsistence farming, commercial bike riding, cattle rearing, fishing, tailoring, mining and quarrying. A random effect logit model is used to estimate households’ WTP for an improvement in coverage, choice of health care provider and a reduction in waiting time. Our study reveals that households were WTP more to have better attributes (better coverage, less waiting time) and to go to a faith - based provider. Our findings also suggest that location – rural versus urban – matters in determining the WTP since urban households were WTP more for health insurance than their rural counterparts, (SLL 54,348 or $7.34) and (SLL 37,250.5 or $5.03), respectively.},
 year = {2018}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone
AU  - Joseph Kamara
AU  - Mireia Jofre Bonet
AU  - Alice Mesnard
Y1  - 2018/05/29
PY  - 2018
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11
T2  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
JF  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
JO  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
SP  - 1
EP  - 12
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2578-9309
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11
AB  - The current health care financing system in Sierra Leone is unsustainable and poses challenges ranging from increased in out of pocket health care expenditure to accessibility problems, particularly in rural areas where living standards are low and health care facilities are scarce. This paper investigates whether privately financed health Insurance can improve the accessibility to formal health care in Sierra Leone and mitigate the effects of OOPs on poor households. To do so, we estimate the Willingness To Pay (WTP) for health insurance among informal sector workers in Sierra Leone using a Discrete Choice Experiment approach. Eight informal sector activities were selected namely – petty trading, subsistence farming, commercial bike riding, cattle rearing, fishing, tailoring, mining and quarrying. A random effect logit model is used to estimate households’ WTP for an improvement in coverage, choice of health care provider and a reduction in waiting time. Our study reveals that households were WTP more to have better attributes (better coverage, less waiting time) and to go to a faith - based provider. Our findings also suggest that location – rural versus urban – matters in determining the WTP since urban households were WTP more for health insurance than their rural counterparts, (SLL 54,348 or $7.34) and (SLL 37,250.5 or $5.03), respectively.
VL  - 3
IS  - 1
ER  -

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Author Information

Joseph Kamara

Sierra Leone Social Health Insurance (SLeSHI) Scheme, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Mireia Jofre Bonet

Department of Economics, City University of London, London, UK
Alice Mesnard

Department of Economics, City University of London, London, UK

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APA Style

Joseph Kamara, Mireia Jofre Bonet, Alice Mesnard. (2018). A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone. International Journal of Health Economics and Policy, 3(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11

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ACS Style

Joseph Kamara; Mireia Jofre Bonet; Alice Mesnard. A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone. Int. J. Health Econ. Policy 2018, 3(1), 1-12. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11

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AMA Style

Joseph Kamara, Mireia Jofre Bonet, Alice Mesnard. A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone. Int J Health Econ Policy. 2018;3(1):1-12. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11,
  author = {Joseph Kamara and Mireia Jofre Bonet and Alice Mesnard},
  title = {A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone},
  journal = {International Journal of Health Economics and Policy},
  volume = {3},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1-12},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hep.20180301.11},
  abstract = {The current health care financing system in Sierra Leone is unsustainable and poses challenges ranging from increased in out of pocket health care expenditure to accessibility problems, particularly in rural areas where living standards are low and health care facilities are scarce. This paper investigates whether privately financed health Insurance can improve the accessibility to formal health care in Sierra Leone and mitigate the effects of OOPs on poor households. To do so, we estimate the Willingness To Pay (WTP) for health insurance among informal sector workers in Sierra Leone using a Discrete Choice Experiment approach. Eight informal sector activities were selected namely – petty trading, subsistence farming, commercial bike riding, cattle rearing, fishing, tailoring, mining and quarrying. A random effect logit model is used to estimate households’ WTP for an improvement in coverage, choice of health care provider and a reduction in waiting time. Our study reveals that households were WTP more to have better attributes (better coverage, less waiting time) and to go to a faith - based provider. Our findings also suggest that location – rural versus urban – matters in determining the WTP since urban households were WTP more for health insurance than their rural counterparts, (SLL 54,348 or $7.34) and (SLL 37,250.5 or $5.03), respectively.},
 year = {2018}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance by the Informal Sector Workers in Sierra Leone
AU  - Joseph Kamara
AU  - Mireia Jofre Bonet
AU  - Alice Mesnard
Y1  - 2018/05/29
PY  - 2018
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11
T2  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
JF  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
JO  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
SP  - 1
EP  - 12
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2578-9309
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20180301.11
AB  - The current health care financing system in Sierra Leone is unsustainable and poses challenges ranging from increased in out of pocket health care expenditure to accessibility problems, particularly in rural areas where living standards are low and health care facilities are scarce. This paper investigates whether privately financed health Insurance can improve the accessibility to formal health care in Sierra Leone and mitigate the effects of OOPs on poor households. To do so, we estimate the Willingness To Pay (WTP) for health insurance among informal sector workers in Sierra Leone using a Discrete Choice Experiment approach. Eight informal sector activities were selected namely – petty trading, subsistence farming, commercial bike riding, cattle rearing, fishing, tailoring, mining and quarrying. A random effect logit model is used to estimate households’ WTP for an improvement in coverage, choice of health care provider and a reduction in waiting time. Our study reveals that households were WTP more to have better attributes (better coverage, less waiting time) and to go to a faith - based provider. Our findings also suggest that location – rural versus urban – matters in determining the WTP since urban households were WTP more for health insurance than their rural counterparts, (SLL 54,348 or $7.34) and (SLL 37,250.5 or $5.03), respectively.
VL  - 3
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download