Abstract: Health insurance is a growing segment in India. The Indian health system is one of the largest in the world, with the number of people it concerns: nearly 1.3 billion potential beneficiaries. Hence, health insurance is a rapidly emerging social security instrument that works on the basic principle of pooling of risks of unexpected costs of persons falling ill and needing hospitalization by charging premium from a wider population base of the same community. This study reports the awareness and utilization of health insurance by the urban people in Kolkata, India.