Households’ behavioural approach towards health insurance

The health insurance in India was first marketed by non-life insurers as a standardized annual indemnity product, ‘Mediclaim‘, in 1986, with an annual limit of indemnity chosen by the insured beforehand, and the premiums being largely based on the annual limit chosen and the age of the prospect. Health insurance industry is the fastest growing segment in the non-life insurance sector. The share of health segment is 23.35 per cent in 2010–11 (21.12 per cent in 2009–10 and 20.06 per cent in 2008–09) which is continuously growing every year. Life insurance companies have also products in the health insurance space because of its significant growth. The share of market for the public sector insurance companies in India is around 60 per cent. Largely, the cost of treatment is significantly influencing the health seeking behavior of Indians. Some sections of the society are able to afford the health care services while others can ill-afford it. Recently, there is a growing interest and consensus among policy makers. community organizations and researchers in India on health insurance as an efficient and equitable social security mechanism to ensure universal access to high quality health care to all sections of the society. In this backdrop, the present study is an attempt to understand the behaviour of the health insured.