HEALTHCARE FINANCING AS A DETERMINANT OF THE ACCESSIBILITY AND UTILIZATION OF HEALTHCARE SERVICES AMONG PATIENTS ATTENDING COPD, UNIOSUN TEACHING HOSPITAL, OSOGBO, OSUN STATE.

ABSTRACT The objectives of the study were to investigate the influence of healthcare financing on the accessibility and utilization of healthcare services; to identify the challenges associated with healthcare financing; and to identify potential strategies to enhance healthcare financing and improve the accessibility and utilization of healthcare services. The research adopted a descriptive research design. Simple random sampling was used to select one hundred and seventeen participants attending COPD in the University of Osun Teaching Hospital, but only one hundred and ten returned the questionnaire, giving a response rate of 94%. Data analysis was done employing descriptive statistics with the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 to analyze respondents' socio-demographic data as well as their responses. Furthermore, the study revealed the influence of healthcare financing on the accessibility of healthcare services as 84.5% and 15.5% of the respondents strongly agreed and agreed respectively that it reduced Out-of-Pocket expenditures. However, on the challenges associated with healthcare financing, on whether poor governmental allocation of funds to the health sector hampers effective healthcare financing, the majority (95.5%) strongly agreed, while the rest of the respondents (4.5%) agreed. Based on the potential strategies to enhance healthcare financing and improve the accessibility of healthcare services, the majority (89.1%) and 10.9% strongly agreed and agreed respectively that one of the strategies to enhance healthcare financing and improve the accessibility of healthcare services is ensuring a sufficient budget for healthcare services. However, the study concluded that effective healthcare financing significantly enhances accessibility and utilization of healthcare services by reducing out-of-pocket expenses and ensuring equitable access. It was thus recommended that the government should allocate sufficient budget to the healthcare sector to ensure adequate resources; government should implement subsidies for low-income individuals to reduce financial barriers and enhance access to essential healthcare services; government should prioritize investments in primary healthcare by establishing and upgrading primary care centers; healthcare administrators and government should focus on the training, recruitment, and retention of healthcare professionals; and the government should foster collaborations with private healthcare providers to enhance the quality and reach of healthcare services.