Household Perceptions, Willingness to Pay, Benefit Package Preferences, Health System Readiness for National Health InsuranceScheme in Southern Nigeria

Introduction: Several Nigerians are completely denied access to adequate health care because of cultural, temporal and financial factors with inequity. Objectives: To ascertain the household perceptions, willingness to pay, benefit package preferences, and health systems readiness for Insurance Scheme. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 400 heads of households and 43 health workers in Enugu, Southern Nigeria. Results: Awareness of NHIS among the heads of household was 56.8%, while it was 86% among the health workers. Awareness of NHIS among heads of households was significantly associated to both educational level (X2 = 16.083, P = 0.001), and occupation (X2 = 5.694, P = 0.017). More males (61.6%) had correct perceptions of NHIS compared to females (58.6%), but not statistically significant (X2 = 0.336, P = 0.562). Majority of households respondents 89% are willing to pay for NHIS. Willingness to pay was significantly associated to occupation (X2 = 5.169, df = 1, P = 0.023), but willingness to pay mandatory 5% premium was not significantly associated to occupation (X2 = 0.884, P = 347). Only 11.6% of the health facilities are enlisted as providers in the scheme. Conclusion: Willingness to pay was high, but majority are not ready to pay 5% premium of their earnings. Awareness creation programmes should be improved for the public, and more health facilities enlisted for wider coverage.