PENDAPATAN, PENDIDIKAN, TEMPAT TINGGAL, DAN KEMAUAN MEMBAYAR ASURANSI KESEHATAN ANAK: PENGGUNAAN TEKNIK "BIDDING GAME" 1= INCOME, EDUCATION, RESIDENCE, AND WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR ...

Backgrounds: Over recent years health policymakers and academicians in Indonesia have shown zealous interest in expanding the explicit role of health insurance in the health financing system. However, many health financing policies produced are tacking in prudent consideration of economic theory and empirical evidence. This paper presents the results of a willingness to pay study for child health insurance that used a robust contingent valuation method, namely the bidding game technique. Subject and methods: A total of 409 children aged 3 to 7 years from 10 and 9 kindergartens in Surakarta and Boyolali (Central Java, Indonesia), respectively, were selected for study by proportional random sampling. Each father of these children was interviewed by use of a set of structured questionnaire. Willingness to pay was estimated by Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression. Results: Thirty six percent of fathers did not want to buy a child health insurance scheme. Income, education, and residence do not determine this decision. Mean WTP for child's premium is Rp28.743,00 per month, with standard deviation of Rp29.271,00, and median WTP of Rp20.000,00. Family income, education, and residence are important determinants for WTP for child's health insurance, and they are all statistically significant at 1% level. Family income has an elasticity of 0.53 (95%CI 0.40 to 0.65), meaning that a 10% increase in family income leads to 5% rise in WTP for child health insurance. Conclusion: The paper has informed policymakers of the demand for health insurance and feasible prices. It is particularly useful for estimating the level of subsidies required to fill the gap between the maximum possible premium to be charged to social health insurance participants and the costs of providing health care services. An understanding of the determinants of WTP is useful for selecting the appropriate strategies for expanding the coverage of health insurance. Keywords: health insurance, willingness to pay, bidding game techniqu