Authors: Dr.Sagar P.Suke, Dr.Suhas Pakhare, Dr.Pankaj Bhokare
Abstract: Health insurance is a cornerstone of financial risk protection, yet voluntary adoption among India’s organised-sector salaried workforce remains uneven despite the near-universal provision of employer-sponsored group cover. This study examines the behavioural determinants of health insurance adoption among salaried employees in Pune, one of India’s largest urban employment hubs, integrating the Health Belief Model, the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Andersen’s behavioural model into a single explanatory framework. A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based design was adopted, with respondents stratified across information technology, banking, education, healthcare, manufacturing and public-sector employment in the Pune Metropolitan Region. A calibrated dataset of 384 salaried respondents was analysed to test the hypothesised relationships. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, and the hypotheses were tested using chi-square tests of independence, Pearson correlation, binary logistic regression and multiple linear regression. Roughly one in four respondents (26.6%) held a personal policy over and above their employer-provided cover. Income (OR = 1.83, p < 0.001), awareness (OR = 1.77, p = 0.004) and age (OR = 1.29, p = 0.028) significantly predicted adoption, while literacy, perceived benefits and trust were significant at the margin. Purchase intention was driven principally by perceived benefits (β = 0.27), perceived barriers (β = − 0.20) and trust (β = 0.22), together explaining 15.2% of the variance. The findings suggest that employer cover creates a substitution effect rather than a gateway to comprehensive protection, and that insurer trust and literacy—not price alone—are the decisive levers. The study recommends employer-embedded awareness programmes, standardised pre-purchase disclosure, and portable top-up products to deepen voluntary adoption.
DOI: http://doi.org/
