title: The effect of Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme on health care utilisation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study investigates the effect of Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) on health care utilisation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We provide a short history of health insurance in Ghana, and briefly discuss general patterns of enrolment in Ghana as well as in Accra in a first step. In a second step, we use data from the Women's Health Study of Accra wave II to evaluate the effect of insurance on health seeking behaviour using propensity score matching.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We find that on average individuals enrolled in the insurance scheme are significantly more likely to obtain prescriptions, visit clinics and seek formal health care when sick.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that the government's objective to increase access to the formal health care sector through health insurance has at least partially been achieved.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States. nblanche@hsph.harvard.edu
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Blanchet
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Osei-Akoto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057216:Propensity Score; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors