Browsing by Author "Manguni, Grachel"
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Item Restricted “Peace of mind” effects of social health insurance in women: evidence from the Philippines(2018-05) Manguni, Grachel; Capuno, Joseph J.Sense of financial insecurity in accessing needed health care is prevalent in women in the developing world. Health insurance is advertized by insurance providers and anticipated by insurance seekers to bring the insured “peace of mind”. However, few studies have evaluated health insurance for this particular effect. This thesis, therefore, estimates the impact of social health insurance on sense of financial insecurity in accessing needed health care in women in the Philippines. Using observational data, the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey, and a matching technique, Propensity Score Matching, we find that having PhilHealth insurance reduces the probability that insured women will perceive getting money for needed medical advice or treatment a “big problem” by 7.9- 8.4 percentage points. This effect is statistically significant at p < 0.01 and robust to possible hidden bias that can change the odds of PhilHealth insurance status by 28-30%. We also find that this effect varies by poverty status and level of wealth. Specifically, we find effects ranging from 5.3 to 11.3 percentage points in subsamples of insured women who are non-poor. However, we find no effect in subsamples of insured women who are poor. At the country level, these results suggest that PhilHealth’s recently implemented pro-poor policies could be steps in the right direction. Within the literature, this study contributes to the currently limited evidence on how health insurance fares in providing women with a more holistic financial risk protection that not only mitigates their financial loss but also alleviates their financial worries.