Customer satisfaction in health insurance: Evidence from India

Abstract

Health care is a universally considered as a merit good sector as most countries either have a universal health care system or a universal insurance system. India has been following a hybrid system where predominantly the health logistics and health care have been provided by the State and Central government. From a fledgling beginning with Employees' State Insurance Corporate (ESIC) (1952) and Central Government health Scheme (CGHS) (1954), India has come a long way where it has witnessed a plethora of health insurance programs. The latest addition has been the Ayushman Bharat Health Insurance Scheme, which promises to cover 10 crore families with an insurance coverage of 5 lakh. This study tries to compare the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) of Government Sponsored Health Insurance scheme with Private Health Insurance alternatives. It has studied two cities (Bhubaneswar and Cuttack) of Odisha, by taking a sample of 400. The Composite Satisfaction Index has taken four parameters viz. value for money (VFM), affordability, claim settlement process and claim settlement amount, to have a comparative picture of the overall satisfaction level. The broad findings are that the overall satisfaction level of government sponsored schemes is significantly higher than the private schemes; largely due to the higher cost of the private insurance scheme. The study does not take into account variables like age, number of dependents, education etc. for arriving the satisfaction index. All the same, it shows broad trends as to how due to high cost of premium and processing hassles, the private insurance schemes have not been able to become the preferred option for those below poverty line and low income groups.