The population-level impacts of a national health insurance program and franchise midwife clinics on achievement of prenatal and delivery care standards in the Philippines

Abstract 

Objectives

Adequate prenatal and delivery care are vital components of successful maternal health care provision. Starting in 1998, two programs were widely expanded in the Philippines: a national health insurance program (PhilHealth); and a donor-funded franchise of midwife clinics (Well Family Midwife Clinics). This paper examines population-level impacts of these interventions on achievement of minimum standards for prenatal and delivery care.

Methods

Data from two waves of the Demographic and Health Surveys, conducted before (1998) and after (2003) scale-up of the interventions, are employed in a pre/post-study design, using longitudinal multivariate logistic and linear regression models.

Results

After controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, the PhilHealth insurance program scale-up was associated with increased odds of receiving at least four prenatal visits (OR 1.04 [95% CI 1.01–1.06]) and receiving a visit during the first trimester of pregnancy (OR 1.03 [95% CI 1.01–1.06]). Exposure to midwife clinics was not associated with significant changes in achievement of prenatal care standards. While both programs were associated with slight increases in the odds of delivery in a health facility, these increases were not statistically significant.

Conclusions

These results suggest that expansion of an insurance program with accreditation standards was associated with increases in achievement of minimal standards for prenatal care among women in the Philippines.

Keywords: Maternal health, Prenatal and delivery care, National health insurance program, Social franchising, Philippines