new delhi if you believe health insurance is a waste of money you could be wrong but at least you are not alone a recent survey shows that one out of three people dont buy health insurance as premiums are high and it offers no returns the survey was conducted by nielsen on behalf of max bupa health insurance across six cities in india nearly 33 of the 1500 respondents said that high costs and no return on money invested were the biggest deterrents for buying a health insurance while tax benefit proved to be a reasonable lure providing 27 of the buyers the incentive to purchase a medical cover a high 59 of the respondents expressed unflinching faith in their cash savings saying it would be enough to take care of their medical costs in retirement in fact outofpocket payments for healthcare in the country remain at over 65 despite four public 22 private and four standalone insurance companies having entered the sector after liberalisation according to the insurance regulatory and development authority of india website so while the budget has raised the tax deduction limit from rs 15000 to rs 25000 for health insurance premium it may take more than tax benefit to raise awareness about the need to buy a medical cover but anika agarwal marketing head max bupa health insurance differs the rise in tax deduction is a step in the right direction and part of the evolution process because it will help cover more family members or buy a higher cover she says her affirmation is backed by health insurance buyers in mumbai where 35 of the respondents the highest in the country said they had purchased insurance for tax benefits in hyderabad 53 of respondents said tax planning was the first thing that came to mind while purchasing a health insurance surprisingly of the 25 buyers who said they were aware of the tax advantages only 14 availed of this benefit the fact that there is a low level of awareness about health insurance was confirmed by the survey which found that 40 of the respondents did not know how to top up their base policy an equal number did not know the difference between cashless claims and reimbursements they were also ignorant on terms and conditions of the policy with the awareness for waiting period of preexisting diseases at 4 india continues to have the highest underpenetration of health cover in the world despite growing from 069 million people covered in 200102 to 205 million in 201314 only 016 of the total population is insured for health according to the insurance regulator