Percepción de los asegurados sobre la cobertura de salud a hijos menores de 18 años por parte del Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social (IESS) en Cuenca

Abstract

The Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS) provides its affiliates with various benefits, one of which is health care for children under 18 years old; however, these benefits are granted without the financial contribution of the parents, resulting in an unfunded expense that jeopardizes the sustainability of the institution. Therefore, in this research, the perception that affiliates have regarding health coverage for children under 18 years old at the IESS was analyzed through a quantitative, cross-sectional study with surveys of 422 affiliates from the canton of Cuenca, using simple random sampling. Additionally, descriptive and inferential statistics were used for this analysis. Among the main findings, it was found that health coverage for children under 18 years old is known and utilized by many of the affiliates. Also, more than half of them consider the health service to be poor or average. It is concluded that the affiliates have a negative perception of the service provided by the IESS, because it is linked to adequate financing, especially since it is an insurance provider.