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The article provides estimates of economic burden of diabetes among women. The study was based on primary data collected from Jalandhar. The article examines the direct, indirect and intangible cost of diabetes. The result indicates that mean cost of outpatient care of consultation, lab investigations, medicines, special diet and transport was ₹203.53, ₹535.50, ₹515.0, ₹258.80 and ₹120.30, respectively. While, mean cost of inpatient care of consultation, lab investigations, room charges, medicines, special diet and transport was ₹1157.00, ₹1468.75, ₹1354.50, ₹4175.50, ₹680.0 and ₹278.65, respectively. The analysis shows that the mean cost of inpatient care was higher than that of outpatient care. Intangible cost of diabetes involved reduced food consumption, borrowing from neighbours/relatives, decreased non-food consumption, decreased savings, decreased social obligations/functions, stopped purchase/expansion of house, sale of household assets, stopped medical treatment of other members in the family and stopped the purchase of consumer durables. These figures are compelling enough to stimulate government to take corrective actions to address the risk factors that contribute to diabetes. Immediate action is needed to stem the tide of diabetes and to introduce cost-effective treatment to reverse this trend. Healthcare policy planners must anticipate and respond to socio-economic implications, ideally through preventive as well as curative measures.

Health insurance can be an effective tool of personal protection. But India’s health insurance market still lags behind the other countries in terms of penetration. The present article identified the role of perceptions in the enrolment of health insurance among the urban informal sector of Punjab, India. First, data were obtained from the urban informal sector of Punjab. Then factor analysis was applied to identify the perceptions associated with enrolment of health insurance. After this, logistic regression was performed to determine the associations of identified perceptions with enrolment of health insurance. The present study identified 12 perceptions factors associated with health insurance enrolment of the informal sector in India. Out of the 12 factors, the logistic regression results proved that 8 were statistically significant influencers of health insurance enrolment decisions. The significant perceptions factors were lack of awareness about the need to buy health insurance; comprehensive coverage; income constraint; future contingencies and social obligations; lack of information; availability of subsidized government health care; linkage with government hospitals; and preference for government schemes. It was found that perceptions play a vital role in the household decisions to enrol for health insurance. Policy makers or marketers of health insurance policies should recognize the household perceptions as a potential barrier and try to develop a health insurance package as per the actual needs of the informal sector (low income) in India.

Health insurance could play a vital role to improve the health status in a country. But penetration of health insurance is very low in India. Therefore, present study endeavours to examine the awareness of health insurance, sources of awareness and determinants of awareness among workers employed in urban informal sector of Punjab. For the analysis three group of informal sector workers (construction workers, vendors and shopkeepers) have been identified from the three urban districts of Punjab, namely, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana. The analysis was made with the help of descriptive statistics and multivariate probit regression. The analysis shows a significant difference in the awareness of health insurance across the occupational groups. The multivariate probit regression shows that age, education, religion, type of family, occupation, income, BPL card, experience of outpatient care, inpatient care and awareness of the insurance were the significant determinants of awareness of health insurance. In order to increase the penetration of health insurance the government, policy makers and the marketers of health insurance should make people aware about the potential benefits of health insurance policies. It is recommended to understand the awareness and perceptions of the people towards health and develop a package that is accessible, available, affordable and acceptable among informal sector of the society.