Loan Amounts and Health Care Utilization in Ghana

Emmanuel Orkoh and Emmanuel Asmah ()

Eastern European Business and Economics Journal, 2017, vol. 3, issue 2, 176-193

Abstract: A range of socioeconomic, demographic, and public health related factors have been found to influence household health care utilization, but the extent to which access to loan amounts play in the Ghanaian context remains unaddressed in the empirical literature. This study examines the extent to which loan amounts influence health care utilization using the recent Ghana Living Standard Survey round six (GLSS, 6) data. The study employed logit and multinomial logit estimation techniques in achieving this objective. The regression estimates demonstrate that a 1% increase in the amount of credit accessed from a financial institution is associated with 0.611 probability that an individual will consult a health practitioner when ill. Compared to specialists, the odds that a respondent who is either ill or injured would consult a pharmacy for health care given a 1% increase in amount of credit are about 0.351 times lower. Loan amounts significantly influence switch between different health care options. Policies aimed at making credit available to individuals and households can make an important contribution to health care utilization in Ghana. Health programs and interventions should be embedded in financial services and they need to be tailored to particular socio-economic groups.

Keywords: Loan amount; Sources of Loan; Healthcare utilization; Source of Health Care; Multinomial logit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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