Overt dependence of health insurance industry on healthcare system

A vast majority of the population in the developing economies remains uninsured. Moreover, the informal sector that employs a larger section of the society is untouched by any of the government scheme. In this study, we use health belief model to examine the factors that induce willingness to buy health insurance among the illness and the non-illness group. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1,339 participants above 20 years of age of which 351 had contracted illness in the past and 988 had not. Data was collected using questionnaire from four highly populated districts in India. The questionnaire was developed based on the constructs of health belief model. The data was statistically analysed. Kendall’s Tau-b correlation technique was used to explore the relationship between perceived vulnerability and product aversion. Logistic regression was used to find out the odds at which each independent variable, categorised based on the health belief model, contributes to willingness to buy. The model was able to predict 15% of the variance for willingness-to-buy among the illness and 27% among the non-illness groups. Findings suggest that the perceived vulnerability reduced product aversion among the illness group. Mere presence of primary and super-specialty hospitals was not sufficient for the illness group to subscribe for health insurance. Income perceptions emerged as a significant predictor among the illness group. Presence of well-established hospital, income perceptions, and subjective norms were significant predictors among the non-illness group. The growth of the health insurance industry largely depends upon the presence of well-established hospitals. In the absence of adequate healthcare facilities, attempts by the insurers to promote insurance covers will become futile. Insurers should also consider alternate segmentation patterns albeit the present socio-demographic pattern, as the health risk experience differs among individuals.