Publication:

Awareness and perception of health insurance among rural population in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu

Background Health insurance awareness and perception is most preliminary and people are getting familiar of it. Still the utilization of health insurance has not reached the rural areas due to lack of awareness among rural population. The present study was done with an aim of assessing individual’s awareness and perception of the health insurance.

Methods The study was a community based cross sectional study conducted for a period of 6 months among villages which is field practice area of a medical college in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu. 310 houses were interviewed. Line listing of the houses was done and data collected through semi structured questionnaire either from the head of the family or the family member who was available in the house. Data collected was statistically analyzed by SPSS version 21.

Results In this study, among 310 participants majority were females (62%), middle class (31%), nuclear family (83%). 51% were aware about health insurance, source of awareness was mostly from television (38.3%). 48% of study participants were aware of Chief Minister Health Scheme.

Conclusions Majority of the people who were aware about the Chief Minister Health Scheme were not aware about the complete benefits and details of the scheme, which emphasis on the need for creating more awareness about health insurance to avoid unpredictable health expenses in case of illness and injuries.