Satisfaction with the Service Quality of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation: The Mediating Role of Awareness and Trust

Abstract

This study examines PhilHealth’s response to COVID-19. It also examines the mediating role of awareness and trust in PhilHealth member satisfaction amidst controversies and political issues. PhilHealth members in Metro Manila were selected for the study using convenience sampling. The questionnaire was generated through Google forms and used the 5-point Likert scale to determine the levels of agreement. Using SPSS, the result of the study shows the members’ assessment of PhilHealth’s service quality (M=4.39, SD=0.755), satisfaction (M=4.26, SD=0.824), awareness of its services and benefits (M=4.39, SD=0.954), and trust its program, financial sustainability, and management (M=4.19, SD=0.791). We also established a hypothetical model using WarpPLS 7.0 and examined interrelationships between variables using PLS-SEM. The results showed that PhilHealth service quality is associated with satisfaction (β = 0.439, p < 0.001), service quality affects members’ awareness (β = 0.663, p < 0.001), and trust (β = 0.681, p < 0.001). The results also revealed that awareness has significance to satisfaction (β = 0.331, p < 0.001) and that trust affects satisfaction (β = 0.187, p < 0.001). In addition, the mediation variables revealed that awareness (β = 0.112, ρ = 0.053) and trust (β = 0.061, ρ = 0.192) indirectly influence the relationship between service quality and members’ satisfaction. However, the result would have been different if awareness and trust directly correlated with satisfaction. Thus, an alternative framework is proposed.

Note:
Funding Information: No funding agency was involved at the time of submission.

Conflict of Interests: None to declare.

Ethical Approval/Consent: The Data Privacy Act of 2012, also known as Republic Act 10173, was vigilantly followed. This is an act of maintaining private information, communication, and personal data, whether it be for an individual or for the public or corporate sector. In this study, the researchers followed the ethical guidelines in conducting research.

Keywords: Awareness, COVID-19, Interim Reimbursement Mechanism, satisfaction, trust, Universal Health Care

JEL Classification: H51, I13, I18,