Occupational Differences in the Awareness and Perception of Health Insurance of Workers Employed in Urban Informal Sector of Punjab.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]