The Role of Community Based Health Insurance Scheme on Financial Protection and Healthcare Seeking Behavior of Households in Tehuledere District, Northeast Ethiopia

Healthcare financing in many developing countries dominantly come from out-of-pocket expenditure, and it has remained problematic for its catastrophic consequences on the poor. Community based health insurance scheme become potential strategy to protect households from out- of –pocket expenditure and impoverishment, and access affordable and effective healthcare. Therefore, this study examined the role of community based health insurance on financial protection and healthcare seeking behavior of households in rural Ethiopia. Mixed research approach employed concurrently to collect data from participants, and collected data were analyzed through descriptive, inferential and thematic analysis. The study finding revealed that 71.5% of households protected from extra out of payments (other than premium payment for the scheme). Furthermore, large number of respondents (66.3%) replied that price for the scheme was easily affordable. Moreover, by avoiding out -of -pocket payment, community based health insurance improve healthcare seek behavior of households from modern healthcare providers. However, there were challenges in reimbursement, moral hazards or miss utilizations and adverse selections or the inclusion of chronically ill, poor and fee waivers during enrolment. In general, in the absence of third party and prepayment systems such as health insurance and tax-based healthcare financing, households in many low-income countries are exposed to the financial risks of paying large medical bills from out-of-pocket demands introduction of community based health insurance as alternative financial approach