A study of factor affecting the demand for health insurance in punjab

The economic status of a country is directly related to the health status of its people. Good health is one of the most important pre-requisite to human productivity which in turn leads to overall development of a society. Health is understood as the indispensable basis for defining a person"s sense of well-being. It is an important resource for a nation to pursue national development goals. It raises the productivity of the labor force and enhances economic growth. It plays a critical role in supplementing government effort in ensuring the availability and accessibility of health care services to the population. The objective of the present paper is to know the awareness of health insurance and the factors affecting the demand for health insurance in Punjab. For the analysis of data descriptive statistics and factor analysis have been applied. The sample size is 200 residents of Jalandhar chosen according to convenience approach. The study highlighted that majority of the people aware of the health insurance, Only 11.5 % of the total sample has subscribed for health insurance scheme and five factors i.e. formalities bottlenecks, agent related problems, coverage issues, awareness, negative feedback are main barriers in the success of health insurance in Punjab.