Willingness to Pay For Community Health Insurance and its Determinants among Household Heads in Rural Communities of Ilorin South Local Government Area

Willingness to pay data are rarely collected or used as part of designing health insurance schemes in developing countries. The objective of this study was to assess household heads’ willingness to pay for community health insurance and its determinants in rural communities in Nigeria.
It was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among household heads in rural communities. Sample size of 360 was determined using Fishers formula and multistage sampling technique was used to select respondents. Semi structured interviewer administered questionnaire was used and data analysis was done using Epi-info version 3.4.1. Frequency tables and cross-tabulations were generated with a p-value pre-determined at less than 0.05.
The mean Willingness to Pay was 522.0 + 266.3 Naira and the allowable range for fixing premium is between 250 naira and 1,200 naira. The factors that affect Willingness to pay were age, sex, educational attainment, income, household size, and past health expenditure of household heads.
The amount of premium that should be fixed for Community Health Insurance in these rural communities should range between 250 naira to 1,200 Naira and a mechanism should be worked out such that there will be differential payment based on the age, sex, educational attainment, income, and household size in the registration.