Health services utilization and associated factors among fee waiver beneficiaries’ in Dessie city administration, Northeast Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study design

BACKGROUND: The fee waiver system is one of the components of the 2004 health care financing reform in Ethiopia. It is a system for granting access to health services to those who are unable to pay. The utilization health services among fee waiver beneficiaries remain low and unevenly distributed. This study aimed to assess the utilization of health services and associated factors among fee waiver beneficiaries in Dessie City, Northeast Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study design was employed in Dessie City from March 23 to April 23, 2021. The study was conducted among 407 fee waiver beneficiaries. A structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Participants were selected using a simple random sampling technique. Both bi-variable and multi-variable binary logistic regressions were performed. Significant factors for the outcome variable were identified at 95% CI with a p-value < 0.05. RESULTS: The overall health service utilization among fee waiver beneficiaries was found to be 62.4% (95% CI: 58.1–67.2). Being an urban resident [AOR:2.83, 95% CI:1.26–6.32], having a merchant occupation [AOR:0.20, 95% CI:0.05–0.80], having an average monthly income of 500–1000 birr [AOR:3.22, 95% CI:1.06–6.90], having a chronic disease [AOR:8.36, 95% CI:4.47–15.62], and perceiving the severity of illness as mild [AOR: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.07–0.81] were found to be statistically associated factors with health service utilization. CONCLUSIONS: The fee waiver beneficiaries were not fully utilizing health services at public health facilities. Being an urban resident, being a merchant, having an average monthly income of 500–1000 birr, having a chronic disease, and perceived severity of illness were significantly associated with health service utilization. As a result, boosting income-generating strategies and urbanizing rural parts of the city may improve health service utilization among fee waiver beneficiaries. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-08963-7.