Understanding farmers’ willingness to pay for health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic in North Central Nigeria: Application of Turnbull estimator

Abstract

The global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic necessitated the need to understand farming households’ willingness to adopt the prepayment method for healthcare service delivery through health insurance. Both developed and developing countries can offer quality healthcare to individuals through health insurance to reduce the ever-increasing out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure. Primary data was used in this study. The multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted in selecting 360 farm households for questionnaire administration in 2020. Contingent valuation was used to obtain relevant information on farm households’ willingness to pay (WTP). Descriptive and inferential (sigma scoring, probit regression model, and Turnbull estimator) statistical tools were used to analyse the data. The results showed a low level of awareness (sigma score = 4.31) of health insurance, however, 80% of the farm households were willing to take health insurance. Awareness of health insurance (β = 0.87), farming experience (β = 0.10), education (β = 0.06), and distance to healthcare centre (β = 0.06) significantly determined farm households’ willingness to take health insurance. Estimates of the contingent valuation revealed that the farm households were willing to pay about $6 ($1 approx 430 NGN as of 2020) per capita in a farming season. In formulating rural health insurance-related policy, the government and relevant stakeholders should consider the estimated mean value. Furthermore, for improved participation in health insurance programs among farm households, farmers’ awareness of health insurance and literacy level should be prioritized.