Effects of Socio-Economic Factors Influencing Employees’ Investment Decision in Health

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Date
2013-05-09
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A healthy and productive workforce is important for both industrial and economic growth and the importance of health capital increases as production becomes increasingly health intensive.Some studies focused on occupational diseases and their effects on workers‟ health, income, and productivity with little studies done on the effects of factors influencing health investment decisions of workers in developing countries and Ghana for that matter. This study sought to find the effects of socio-economic factors influencing employees‟ investment decision in health. Primary data was used for the study: Questionnaires were administered and interviews conducted for the collection of data. The convenient sampling method was employed to solicit information from 400 respondents sampled from the private-formal and informal sectors. The statistical analysis of the data was carried out using stata 11 statistical software package. Multivariate analysis using multinomial logistic regression model was employed to estimate the effects of socio-economic factors that influence the decision of employees in Ghana to seek preventive care. The results of the study showed that income, free, and convenient access to medical care were statistically significant and impacted positively on the demand for preventive care at 5% error level. The study recommends that individuals in their search for jobs, with regard to health investment, should consider working in firms with health policies or facilities that provide the employees convenient access to preventive medical care. Medical bill payment coverage policies by firms should as well cover the blue-collar workers who are most likely to be exposed to high health risks. Also, stakeholders should ensure that pro poor health programmes such as the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) be smoothly run for intermittent discontinuation of such programmes discourages individuals enrolled on those programmes from accessing preventive medical care as and when they are supposed to.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Economics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy (Economics) Faculty of Social Sciences College of Art and Social Sciences.May,2013
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