BACKGROUND Malaria is Ghana's most endemic disease; occurring across most parts of the country with a significant impact on individuals and the health system as whole. Treatment seeking for malaria care takes various forms. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was introduced in 2004 to promote access to health services to mitigate the negative impact of the user fee regime. Ten years on,...

BACKGROUND Areca nut chewing is associated with the risk of obesity, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, and cardiovascular mortality. Although a few case reports or case series have suggested the link between areca nut chewing and cardiac arrhythmias, information about the relationship between areca nut chewing and atrial fibrillation (AF) is lacking. Thus, a nationwide ecological study was cond...

The Integrated Health Interview Series (IHIS) is a public data repository that harmonizes four decades of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The NHIS is the premier source of information on the health of the U.S. population. Since 1957 the survey has collected information on health behaviors, health conditions, and health care access. The long running time series of the NHIS is a powe...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the effects of health reform efforts in two large states--New York and Massachusetts. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 1999 to 2008. STUDY DESIGN We take advantage of the "natural experiments" that occurred in New York and Massachusetts to compare health insurance coverage and health care access and use for adults before and a...

there are fragmentations in iran’s health insurance system. multiple health insurance funds exist, without adequate provisions for transfer or redistribution of cross subsidy among them. multiple risk pools, including several private secondary insurance schemes, have resulted in a tiered health insurance system with inequitable benefit packages for different segments of the population. also fra...

OBJECTIVES This report presents an overview, a detailed description of the sample design features, and estimation structures for the 2006-2015 National Health Interview Survey NHIS). It fulfills the same role for the current 2006-2015 NHIS design as NCHS Series 2, No. 130, "Design and Estimation for the National Health Interview Survey, 1995-2004" provided for the previous design, which was ext...

South Korea's state health insurer, the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), is in the process of a compensation suit against tobacco industry. The tobacco companies have habitually endeavored to ensure favorable outcomes in litigation by misusing scientific evidence or recruiting scientists to support its interests. This study analyzed strategies that tobacco companies have used during th...

BACKGROUND Pregnant women were offered free access to health care through National Health Insurance (NHIS) membership in Ghana in 2008, in the latest phase of policy reforms to ensure universal access to maternal health care. During the same year, free membership was made available to all children (under-18). This article presents an exploratory qualitative analysis of how the policy of free ma...