EVALUATING THE EFFICACY OF HEALTH CARE FINANCING IN NIGERIA: EVIDENCE FROM OGUN STATE

The ways a country funds its health care delivery system could be an indicator of how much importance is placed on the commodity and its consumers. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the efficacy or otherwise of healthcare financing in Nigeria. To achieve the objective of the study, different questionnaires were designed and administered to the patients and health practitioners of a public hospital in Ogun State. The total number of questionnaire administered was 50 copies (25 copies for the patients; 25 copies for the health practitioners) and all the questionnaires were returned. A multiple regression analysis was adopted to justify the effectiveness of healthcare financing options on health services in Nigeria. The findings revealed that tax –based healthcare financing is effective inthe purchase of health services in Nigeria. Also, the result indicated that out-of-pocket healthcare financing has significant effect on health services in Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that while out –of-pocket may be necessary as means of purchasing health services, the government should intensify the use of tax-based healthcare financing to facilitate the provision of sustainable healthcare service in Nigeria.