Determinants Of Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance Among Commercial Motorcyclists in Kampala City, Uganda: A Contingency Valuation Method

Background: To assess determinants of willingness to pay for community health insurance among commercial motorcyclists (Boda Boda riders) in Kampala City. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional research was done. A sample of commercial motorcyclists’ stages were purposively selected. Simple random sampling was used to select respondents at each stage.  Structured interviews and contingency valuation methods were used for data collection and to measure willingness to pay (WTP) for health insurance from 381 respondents. The estimated total number of commercial motorcyclists in Nakawa Division is 50,000.  The interviews were administered for an average of 30minutes. Data were collected in April, May and June 2019. SPSS V21 was used for analysis. Data were analyzed by multivariate regression at a significance level of P<0.05. Result: Seventy percent of the respondent Boda Boda riders were WTP for health insurance. The motorcyclists who had spent at least five years in the trade were 9 times more willing to pay for insurance. Respondents with hired motorcycles and had ever been involved in a motor accident were less likely to be willing to pay for insurance. The other key determinants of willingness to pay included: experience of being a commercial motorcyclist for 3 or more years, sensitization about health insurance, self-employment (rides his own a Boda Boda), prior involvement in a motorcycle accident, having paid for any form of insurance and being single. Conclusion: The WTP is high; 7 out of every 10 commercial motorcyclists were willing to pay a premium of at least UGX. 70,000 (USD 20). The WTP among these cyclists is determined by individual characteristics and to a less extent, by health insurance scheme characteristics. This study will inform the enrolment of the informal sector into health insurance schemes with the aim of increasing universal coverage in Uganda and other similar settings.