Impact of Communication in the Success of Health Insurance Schemes in Nigeria: The Plateau State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency Perspective (Published)
The importance of communication in the success of health insurance has become glaring over the years. Communication principles are used today as Health communication control strategies, educating patients about medical care options on various disease prevention, advocacy on marketing health plans and products etc. This study evaluated the communication strategies of the Plateau State Contributory Health Insurance Agency (PLASCHEMA) on the Plateau citizens. The method of study was mixed; quantitative and qualitative approach. Both primary and secondary sources were employed in obtaining data. The population of the study consists of 6 Local Government Areas in Plateau State. Findings established that PLASCHEMA as an organization utilizes the corporate communication strategies and that there is good level of awareness of PLASCHEMA activities. The study concluded that the communication processes in place by PLASCHEMA have been yielding average level of outcomes. For better impact, the study recommended that the agency needs to diversify its communication approaches, adopt strategies to step down their campaigns in local languages, hire the services of information professional and public relation consultants as parts of the envisaged capacity building.
Keywords: Health Insurance, communication, health communication strategy, plateau state contributory health insurance agency (PLASCHEMA)