The sehat sahulat health program: A preliminary appraisal

Abstract

The SSP is a community-based health insurance mechanism established by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a project on October 7th, 2013 and regularised as a program on July 1st, 2018. The objective of the study is to assess the program with respect to the overall effect it had on its users and the mechanisms through which the program is being run. The study analyzes the functioning of the program on the basis of five indicators which are health financing, information, governance, service delivery and human resources. Hence, providing us with an understanding of the beneficiaries and policymakers perspective of the program. A mixed methodology has been employed to cater to the objective as well as subjective needs of the study. To analyze the satisfaction levels of beneficiaries a social survey has been conducted. The single beneficiary is a representation of a household in this case, as SSP is a scheme based on the family unit. In addition to beneficiaries who are on the receiving end the experts of the program were interviewed through open ended questions to enrich our understanding of SSP. The analysis of our findings suggests that SSP is a unique initiative because of the nature of the health insurance offered by it. The beneficiaries on service delivery grounds have reported a strong decrease in the out of pocket expenditure on health which is in line with the objective of SSP. The governance mechanisms have revealed a network of understanding between SSP, the state life Insurance corporation and the empaneled public and private hospitals through which the entire scheme is implemented. Moreover, the findings revealed a difference in the service delivery of public hospitals and private hospitals empaneled in the scheme whereby the beneficiaries reported higher satisfaction levels with the public hospitals.