Title: An Assessment of Awareness about Health Insurance among Residents of Western UP
Authors: Dr Sachin Singh Yadav, Dr Shweta Yadav, Dr Sadhana Singh
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i7.53
Abstract
Introduction: Health insurance is fast emerging as an important mechanism to finance health care needs of the people. With improved literacy, modest rise in outcomes and rapid spread of print and electronic media, there is greater awareness and increasing demand for better health services.
Objective: To assess the perception of health insurance among residents of Western UP.
Material & Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried among rural and urban population of Moradabad Uttar Pradesh. 500 household were taken for the study purpose. A predesigned questionnaire was used to assess the awareness of public about health insurance.
Results: Out of 500 participants Overall 62% of the residents had knowledge regarding health insurance, while 11% had not heard about it. Individuals residing in urban area were more (71%) aware regarding health insurance than people living in rural areas (53%). Around 63.5% of the respondents derived the information about health insurance schemes from media which played a vital role in the dissemination of information. The middle and low socio-economic groups preferred government health insurance over private.
Conclusion: There is a need to improve level of awareness about health insurance. It is a necessity of life as all individuals suffer from any disease or health related problem at any time of their life. Therefore, it should be acquired by all for future security as it decreases the burden of high medical expenses.
Keywords: Health insurance, Awareness, premium.
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