Zlata Tanović - Research Summary
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
The impact of subsidized private health insurance and health facility upgrades on healthcare utilization and spending in rural Nigeria
This paper analyzes the quantitative impact of an intervention that provides subsidized low-cost private health insurance together with health facility upgrades in Nigeria. The evaluation, which measures impact on healthcare utilization and spending, is based on a quasi-experimental design and utilizes three population-based household surveys over a four-year period. After four years, the intervention increased healthcare use by 25.2 percentage points in the treatment area overall and by 17.7 percentage points among the insured. Utilization of modern healthcare facilities increased after four years by 20.4 percentage points in the treatment area and by 18.4 percentage points among the insured due to the intervention. After two years of program implementation, the intervention reduced healthcare spending by 51 percent compared with baseline, while after four years, spending resumed to pre-intervention levels.
Authors: Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Gosia Popławska, and Jacques van der Gaag and Zlata Tanovic
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