Understanding the Decision to Purchase Health Insurance Among Academicians
Abstract
This study investigates various factors influencing the decision of academicians in Malaysia to purchase health insurance. Health insurance is a policy that gives coverage for medical expenses and hospitalization. In Malaysia, health policy is commonly known as medical policy and the term medical card is broadly used to represent health policy and the benefits available under the policy. Through qualitative interviews with six faculty members, the research uncovers the complexities of the decision-making process. The findings reveal that personal experiences, cultural values, social influences, and financial considerations significantly shape these decisions. However, the study's small sample size and regional specificity limit the generalizability of the results. Future research should address these limitations by incorporating a larger and more diverse sample to enhance the external validity of the findings. Such an approach would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing health insurance decisions and inform policy interventions aimed at improving healthcare accessibility and affordability.
Downloads
References
Abdul Rahman, Z., & Mohd Daud, N. (2010). Adverse selection and its consequences on medical and health insurance and takaful in Malaysia. Humanomics, 26(4), 264-283. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/08288661011090875
Aizuddin, A.N. & Aljunid, S.M. (2017). Ability to pay for future national health financing schemes among Malaysian households. Annals of Global Health, 83(3-4), 654-660. DOI10.1016/j.aogh.2017.10.002. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aogh.2017.10.002
Allegri De, M., M. Sanon, M., & Sauerborn, R. (2006). To enroll or not to enroll?: A qualitative investigation of demand for health insurance in rural West Africa. Social Science and Medicine, 62(6), 1520-1527. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.07.036
Anil Singh P., Malay G. (2021). A study of various factors influencing buying decision-making of health insurance policies. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education, 12(7), 57-60.
Azzeri, A., Ching, G. H., Jaafar, H., Mohd Noor, M. I., Razi, N. A., Then, A. Y., Suhaimi, J., Kari, F., & Dahlui, M. (2020). A review of published literature regarding health issues of coastal communities in Sabah, Malaysia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(5), 1–14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051533
Bryan C. Taylor & Nick Trujillo (1984). Qualitative Research Methods in the New Handbook of Organizational Communication. Sage.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Sage Publications, Inc.
Geng, X., Janssens, W., Kramer, B., & Van der list, M. (2018). Health insurance, a friend in need? Impacts of formal insurance and crowding out of informal insurance. World Development, 111, 196-210. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.07.004
Gupta, A. (2019). The evolution of health insurance in Malaysia. Journal of Southeast Asian Economies, 36(1), 121-136.
Jaafar, S., Noh, K.M., Muttalib, K.A., Othman, N.H., Healy, J., & Maskon, K. (2013). Malaysia health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 3(1), 1-103.
Nancy Burns, Susan K. Grove (2010). Understanding Nursing Research. Building an evidence-based practice. Elsevier.
Ng, W.J., Fong, L.H., Goon, L.T., Tan, X.Y., &Tan, Y. C. (2014). The determinants of health and life insurance demand among Malaysians (Undergraduate’s thesis, Universiti Tuanku Abdul Rahman). Malaysia.
Rahman, A.R. (2010). Public vs private healthcare: The Malaysian experience. Journal of Healthcare Management, 5(2), 98-104
Salameh, A.M.M., Juni, M.H. & Hayati, K. (2015). Willingness to pay for social health insurance among academic staff of a public university in Malaysia. International Journal of Public Health and Clinical Sciences, 2(5), 21-32.
Tay K., Kamarul T., Lok W. Y., Mansor M., Li X., Wong J., Saw A. (2020). COVID-19 in Singapore and Malaysia: Rising to the challenges of orthopaedic practice in an evolving pandemic. Malaysian Orthopaedic Journal, 14(2), 7–15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5704/MOJ.2007.001
Taylor, S.J., & Bogdan, R. (1984) Introduction to Qualitative Research Method: A Phenomenological Approach to the Social Sciences. Wiley.
Yardim, M.S., Cilingiroglu, N., & Yardim, N. (2010). Catastrophic health expenditure and impoverishment in Turkey. Health Policy, 94, 26-33. DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2009.08.006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2009.08.006
Yazid, A. S., Arifin, J., Hussin, M. R., & Daud, W. N. W. (2012). Determinants of family takaful (Islamic life insurance) demand: a conceptual framework for a Malaysian study. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(6), 115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v7n6p115
Copyright (c) 2024 Afiza Azura Mohamad Arshad, Azitadoly Mohd Arifin, Soo-Cheng Chuah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Author (s) should affirm that the material has not been published previously. It has not been submitted and it is not under consideration by any other journal. At the same time author (s) need to execute a publication permission agreement to assume the responsibility of the submitted content and any omissions and errors therein. After submission of revised paper in the light of suggestions of the reviewers, the editorial team edits and formats manuscripts to bring uniformity and standardization in published material.
This work will be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) and under condition of the license, users are free to read, copy, remix, transform, redistribute, download, print, search or link to the full texts of articles and even build upon their work as long as they credit the author for the original work. Moreover, as per journal policy author (s) hold and retain copyrights without any restrictions.
