The age of selling fear has started. You are afraid for your life, your health, and your family.The temptation to say no to the pesky neighbourhood insurance sales guy is strong within all of us. But before actually banishing him from your life, just stop for a moment and do a quick “health check”. Healthcare costs have been rising insidiously in double digits, year on year, for the last few years. Many of us are still clueless when it comes to the cost of a longish stay in a hospital. More importantly, costs can be far higher once the hospital part is done with. It’s the post-surgery care that often eats large holes in our finances. This is rarely covered by the traditional mediclaim policy, which mostly covers hospitalisation expenses.
Previously, our choices were limited since the mediclaim policy was the most widely demanded health care product. In more recent years, a few more options have come up. Life insurance companies have been offering riders that cover some critical illnesses. In the last year or so, insurance companies, both public and private, have started offering stand-alone health policies worth considering. These do not replace the traditional medical claim, but they do assist you in topping up and keeping up with rising costs.Health insurance schemes that complement current risk-sharing mechanisms can create an increased availability of affordable health care. It enables one to meet the cost of medical expenses in the event of illness or accidents within the pre-agreed limit after payment of the premium. It enables the family to smooth the out-of-pocket payments for health care over time and to maintain living standards at a sufficient level.
Out-of-pocket health care costs include transportation, co-payments for outpatient consultation and admission, lab tests, medicines, consultations, operations, and ward charges. The type of illness, whether or not the illness is chronic, and distance from the hospital largely determine the amount of health care expenditure, and this could result in a catastrophe if it threatens a household’s capacity to maintain its subsistence needs. For those with health insurance, the scheme covers the majority of the expenses, catastrophic spending is protected, and reliance on out-of-pocket health spending becomes lower.
BY – DR. Prof. Rajesh Ganatra,
Ph.D., UGC NET, M.Com
SKIPS – MBA College ahmedabad
