| dc.description.abstract | The informal sector in Kenya constitutes 83% of all the 15.2 million workers in the country and although they largely contribute to the economy of the country a larger proportion of this segment do not have health insurance. The penetration of health insurance to the informal sector is very poor and this calls for upward scaling of successful interventions to remedy this situation given that health insurance increases access to healthcare services and improves financial risk protection. The aim of the study was to determine factors that influence uptake of health insurance among the informal sector workers in Vihiga Sub-County and more specifically, influence of demographic factors on the uptake of health insurance among informal sector workers, health insurance schemes accessible to the informal sector workers and assess influence of scheme related factors on the uptake of national health insurance. Cross sectional study design was used to select sample of 384 participants by cluster and simple random sampling techniques. Data was collected by use of semi-structured questionnaires. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square and logistic regression analysis. Content analysis was applied in qualitative data. Health insurance coverage in the study sample was 132(34.38%), with a significant association between age, gender, education level, employment status, household head gender, monthly household income. Awareness of health insurance had a significant influence on health insurance uptake (p<0.05). There were few private health insurance schemes accessible to the informal sector, and the National Hospital Insurance Fund was the most accessible health insurance scheme 40.10%. Cash payment (61.64%) was the main mode of clearing hospital bills. Health insurance providers should improve the attractiveness of insurance schemes to promote a wider cover and range of health care services. The Ministry of Health should enhance efforts to increase enrollment among the informal sector, by raising awareness, knowledge and understanding about the health insurance schemes through public forums and mass media, while creating or advocating for flexible premium payment. | en_US |