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Awareness of health insurance in a urban population in Kolkata: A cross-sectional study

Health insurance is a growing segment in India. The Indian health system is one of the largest in the world, with the number of people it concerns: nearly 1.3 billion potential beneficiaries. Hence, health insurance is a rapidly emerging social security instrument that works on the basic principle of pooling of risks of unexpected costs of persons falling ill and needing hospitalization by charging premium from a wider population base of the same community. This study reports the awareness and utilization of health insurance by the urban people in Kolkata, India. A total of 1000 samples were approached and among them, 324 volunteered for their responses. Of the 324 respondents, 308 (94 %) of them were aware of health insurance. Among 324 only 273 (84%) had procured health insurance. Though this study shows increased prevalence of awareness of health insurance, there is still an alarming need to improve the awareness with regard to their knowledge about health insurance and the potential benefits amongst the community.