title: Willingness to join and pay for the newly proposed social health insurance among teachers in Wolaita Sodo Town, South Ethiopia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cost-sharing between beneficiaries and governments is critical to achieve universal health care coverage. To address this, Ethiopia is currently introducing Social Health Insurance. However, there has been limited evidence on willingness to join the newly proposed insurance scheme in the country. The purpose of this study is to assess willingness to join and pay for the scheme among teachers in Wolaita Sodo Town government educational institutions, South Ethiopia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted from February 5 to March 10, 2012 on 335 teachers. Stratified simple random sampling technique was used and data were collected using structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Binary and multiple logistic regressions were used to estimate the crude and adjusted odds ratios for willingness to pay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred twenty-eight teachers participated in the study with response rate of 98%. About 55% of the teachers had never heard of any type of health insurance scheme. However, 74.4% of them were willing to pay for the suggested insurance scheme. About 47% of those who were willing to pay agreed to contribute greater than or equal to 4% of their monthly salaries. Willingness to pay was more likely among those who had heard about health insurance, had previous history of inability to pay for medical bills and achieved higher educational status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of the teachers were willing to join social health insurance; however, adequate awareness creation and discussion should be made with all employees at various levels for the successful implementation of the scheme.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Management, Jimma University, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Tesfamichael Alaro
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Agago
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Management, Jimma University, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Mirkuzie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Woldie
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Management, Jimma University, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Shimeles
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ololo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001364:Awareness; D003256:Community Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017047:Cost Sharing / Q000379:methods; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D005002:Ethiopia; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Social health insurance; South Ethiopia; willingness to join; willingness to pay