This paper analyses the utilization of
health services among the members of micro
health insurance schemes in rural areas in
Tanzania. Most literature on health insurance in
rural areas in developing countries, including
Tanzania, had analyzed socio-economic
determinants of the households’ demand for
health insurance plans. Little attention has been
given to the outcomes of purchasing the health
insurance plans as the determinants of
membership in the schemes. This is the research
knowledge gap that this study seeks to fill.
In order to examine the effect of households’
membership in the micro health insurance
schemes, on the utilization of health services, the
matching estimator method has been adopted. In
addition, the data from Tanzania Demographic
and Health Survey of 2011 were used to analyse
the outcome of households’ membership in the
health insurance schemes on the utilization of
health services.
The findings revealed that the membership in the
micro health insurance plans increased the
utilization of the health services among the poor
households, but not for the non-poor. Moreover,
the insurance schemes did not provide protection
against catastrophic health spending among the
rural households in the episodes of illness. The
reasons are that the households had to incur
additional expenditures when visiting the health
facilities in episodes of illness and that the plans
provide limited range of benefits to households.
Thus, it is recommended that poor households
should be encouraged to enrol in the micro
health insurance schemes. Moreover, the health
facilities should provide adequate supplies so as
to minimize out of pocket spending for
households in the episode of illness.