Health insurance literacy and health service utilization among college students

Abstract

<b>Objective:</b> Health literacy and health insurance literacy affect healthcare utilization. The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between health insurance knowledge, self-efficacy, and student healthcare utilization in the past year. <b>Participants:</b> A random sample of 1,450 respondents, over the age of 18, attending a public university in the southeastern United States completed a survey in March 2017. <b>Methods:</b> A model was constructed to test the effect of health insurance self-efficacy on the relation between knowledge and healthcare utilization in the past year. <b>Results:</b> Health insurance knowledge (<i>M</i> = 5.8, range 0-10) and self-efficacy (<i>M</i> = 2.48, range 1-4) were low. Self-efficacy was a significant moderator when explaining healthcare utilization in the past year. <b>Conclusions:</b> College students have low knowledge and self-efficacy regarding health insurance. These findings can be used for developing policies and self-efficacy-based health education programs that may increase student healthcare utilization.