Health Insurance - A must have given the way we live

It’s a race against time for all of us as we rush to meet deadlines, provide for our families and amass wealth for the future – all at grave personal peril.

Even as children, we are hardwired into the concept of ‘caring for the family’. We observe our parents working hard to provide for us, we see them granting our every wish and we soon learn that this is what adults do. To a child, an adult is somebody that goes to work, makes money and makes a child’s every dream come true.

And so, we grow up with this child’s version of an adult’s responsibilities (which is not an entirely inaccurate version) and condition ourselves to work hard all our lives to provide for our ageing parents, our spouses and our children. When inflation rises and pushes up living costs, some of us take up extra work at the office or put in overtime to make more money. As the family grows in size and age, it seems like one’s responsibilities go up exponentially. There is constant pressure to make money, save some of it for the future and amass wealth – after all, we are doing all of this for our loved ones’ future.

But so much work and stress come at a price. One finds that though one is working all the time and even making a comfortable living, there is hardly any time left for personal recreation and emotional wellbeing. Work stresses keep most of us highly strung even on weekends and holidays, when we respond either by being nervous or extremely sleepy. There is simply no time left to enjoy family bonding, or indulge in one’s hobbies, or even take a walk for the sake of one’s health. With constricting deadlines and many people commuting far distances to work, there is often no time to fit in a gym workout or even a brisk evening walk.

This comes with a grave peril: ill health. Ill health translates into diseases or on a mental level, into lack of concentration and focus. Both are detrimental to one’s wellbeing. Soon, it can cause minor to major diseases that require a doctor’s intervention. From here, one is just a step away from sustained therapy and hospitalisation.

While it may be impossible to avoid deadlines and work stress, there is a way to combat future financial horrors arising from expensive medical treatment. Taking medical insurance is the answer. There are myriad health insurance plans in India offering a variety of benefits to the policy holder and his family. One may choose an individual health plan as also a family floater plan that covers one’s parents, spouse, children and even dependent siblings.

Many people are turning to health insurance plans in India to provide the high costs of treatment and hospitalisation, as also other charges associated with paying an ambulance, daily medication and post-operative care. Since medical costs in India are exorbitantly high, it is not always possible to meet the same with one’s income and savings. At such times, medical insurance policies come to one’s rescue.