Health Outcomes and Health Expenditure. A Cross-Sectional Study in Kenya

Health economics has made it possible to prioritize health expenditure given different levels of income. Most studies focus on mortality as a health outcome. Quality of life and life expectancy are an equally important outcome. High-income earners have good management of hypertension due to health insurance coverage. Two-thirds of middle and low-income countries are affected by hypertension. The study on high blood pressure is anchored on the Grossman model and the human capital theory. This is hypertension is a chronic disease that reduces the stock of health. Its detection and management is crucial for quality of life. This study diverges into high blood pressure as a health outcome. Independent variables are high blood pressure of women, health outcomes, employment of women, level of education of women, public health insurance coverage, private health insurance coverage, any insurance, and mental health. The main objective is to determine the effect of insurance education, obesity, and distance to the nearest facility on high blood pressure health outcomes. The first minor objective is to evaluate how public health insurance coverage affects access to high blood pressure diagnosis and treatment. The second objective seeks to evaluate how a lack of basic education affects access to high blood pressure diagnosis and treatment. It uses secondary cross-sectional data from KNBS. The Cobb-Douglas model is suitable for analyzing DHS data in STRATA. The findings show that only public health insurance expenditure has a significant impact on high blood pressure management. In this regard, we do not reject the first objective. The government of Kenya should therefore prioritize social health insurance for proper management of diabetes.