Health Insurance Awareness and Perception among Salaried Individuals in Pune City: A Socio-Demographic Analysis

Health insurance is a critical instrument of financial risk protection, yet awareness of it, and the perception that shapes its use, remain unevenly distributed across India’s urban workforce. This paper presents a socio-demographic analysis of health insurance awareness and perception among salaried individuals in Pune City, Maharashtra. A cross-sectional design was adopted and a structured questionnaire administered to salaried respondents drawn from six occupational clusters in the Pune Metropolitan Region. A calibrated dataset of 400 respondents was analysed to demonstrate the framework. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, and associations were tested using chi-square tests, analysis of variance, independent-samples t-tests, Pearson correlation and both binary logistic and ordinary-least-squares regression. Item-wise results indicate high self-reported awareness (composite M = 3.99, α = 0.640) and favourable overall perception (M = 4.00, α = 0.656). Income (χ² = 8.45, p = 0.038) and education (χ² = 11.15, p = 0.011) were significantly associated with awareness level, whereas gender, age, sector and marital status were not. In binary logistic regression, education (OR = 1.39, p = 0.007) and income (OR = 1.31, p = 0.011) significantly predicted high awareness. Perception did not differ significantly across income, sector, age or gender; education had only a marginal effect (F = 2.18, p = 0.090). Awareness and perception were weakly correlated (r = 0.06, p = 0.225), indicating that knowing about insurance and valuing it are empirically distinct constructs. The study recommends education-led, segment-specific awareness campaigns and transparent product communication to close the awareness–perception–action gap.