Background: With technological advances, new procedures and more effective medicines, the costs of healthcare have driven
up. So, taking health insurance is more affordable.
Aims: To know health insurance service utilization and willingness to adopt a health insurance scheme among patients admitted
in a tertiary hospital.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted during September - November 2019 among 126 patients admitted in a tertiary care hospital using a predesigned and pretested schedule. The study design was cross-sectional. Non-probability sampling
method was used. Data were entered to an excel sheet and SPSS software version 20 was used for analysis.
Results: Among the persons interviewed, about 20% were admitted under the health insurance scheme, 71% were aware of
health insurance. Around 60% of the respondents gained knowledge about health insurance from radio and television followed
by agents and friends (31.1%) and print media (8.9%). Among those insured 72% had ESIS, 24% had CGHS and 4% had taken
private insurance. Among participants, 55% were not willing to join any health insurance scheme but if given a chance,61%
preferred Government health insurance. 84 % of participants who were admitted under insurance belonged to upper socioeconomic status. This association was statistically significant (p=0.002). Government health insurance was preferred by 80% of
participants.
Conclusion: Health insurance coverage will further increase by increasing awareness about different schemes and the initiative
taken by health care personnel will be more effective.
Key Words: Health insurance, Awareness, Out of pocket expenditure, Inpatients, Willingness to pay, Social security

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