Health insurance coverage and some related factors among informal employees in long bien district, Hanoi

Abstract

      This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in the urban district of Long Bien in Hanoi in 2015 with these objectives: To describe the situation of informal employees’ participation in health insurance in Long Bien district, Hanoi and identify some factors related to informal employees’ participation in health insurance. Using the multi-stage sampling method, we recruited 377 informal employees for this study. Investigators interviewed the employees using a structured questionnaire. Data analysis, involving descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate logistic regression models was performed with STATA 12.0. Our results show that 21.2% of informal employees participated in health insurance, 77.7% of employees had an intention of buying health insurance, and 70.3% of heads of households were willing to buy health insurance for their family members. Education, economic conditions and health status were found to be associated with the possession of health insurance. It is necessary to enhance communication and provide information about the benefits of health insurance and household-based health insurance for informal employees, especially those with low income and low education. Other studies at a larger scale need to be conducted in order to find solutions to increase the coverage of health insurance among informal employees.