Customer Satisfaction Among the Nhif Members: Case of Homa Bay County, Kenya

Abstract

Provision of quality and affordable health services can yield significant benefits to the respective institutions, governments and members. Social Health Insurance has been introduced by a number of developing countries so as to realize the World Health Organization agenda of universal health coverage. The complex nature of achieving customer satisfaction through designing and delivery of quality health insurance services has attracted many researchers who want to understand the underlying factors responsible for such an outcome. Kenya is faced with significant challenges in the provision of life insurance policies and health care services to its citizens even as the NHIF enhances its benefits in line with the planned universal health care agenda by the year 2022. The study therefore sought to examine customer satisfaction among the NHIF members with specific focus on Homa Bay County, Kenya. This study was based on the customer service theory, systems theory, service gap model, and the expectation fulfilment model. A descriptive survey design was adopted. This study targeted all the 200,000 Principal NHIF members in Homa Bay County from which a sample size of 100 respondents were selected through simple random sampling. The target groups were Civil servants, Employees of private and public enterprises, self-employed professionals, casual and migrant workers, agricultural workers and other self-employed, retired civil servants and employees, and selected group of non-working population like students, disabled an unemployed. The study gathered primary data which was obtained through use of a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the extent to which NHIF services provided in Homa Bay County. Chi-Square analyses were used to test the association between category of NHIF services and level of customer satisfaction among NHIF members in Homa Bay County. The findings revealed that NHIF members within Homa Bay County were moderately satisfied with the NHIF services of national hospital insurance medical scheme; civil servant scheme; and NHIF SUPA Cover. On other hand, the study established that the members who participated in the study were very satisfied with the services offered under category of Linda Mama. The findings further revealed that customer satisfaction was not significantly associated to all the NHIF categories being investigated namely, national hospital insurance medical scheme services; the category of civil servant scheme services; the category of NHIF SUPA cover services; and that of Linda mama services. Therefore, the study recommended that there is need for NHIF to work together with all the stakeholders including the government, private employers, and principal members to enhance more accessibility to quality healthcare to the public. This should be done in line with the government’s big four agenda one of them being health care.