Why you must have health insurance
Only 5 per cent Indians are insured while medical inflation is around 20 per cent. This is mainly because of rising cost of treatments and medicines in our country. If you haven't seen hospital bills recently, you may very well be in for a shock. Ignoring medical cover can easily set one back by Rs 8 to10 lakh. When your near and dear ones are in need of the best medical services, the last thing you want to worry about is how to incur the medical expenses.
"It was unacceptable that almost 80% of the expenditure on healthcare by people was met by personal, out of pocket, payment. I am shocked to note that as many as 4 crore people of our country plunge into poverty each year due to expenses on medical treatment," President Pranab Mukherjee had said, while addressing 40th convocation function of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.
Whether one runs his/ her own business or is a salaried employee, he/ she still needs the right medical cover protection.
Here are the top three reasons why you must have personal health cover:
1. Health cover by company is basic and inadequate:
Most of the employees get very basic cover during employment and zero protection when they are out of job. Any medical emergency would be financially catastrophic.
2. Retirement Phase:
Companies do not provide health cover when one needs it the most which is the post retirement period. The insurance premiums are very high at an senior age.
3. Parents protection:
Companies have started to provide health cover either to one's children & spouse or parents, not both.
Besides, one can also claim tax benefit under section 80D. There are many types of health insurance plans available in the market. One should research well and speak to an expert before picking one for the family.
ArthaYantra provides personal finance advice online.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal views of the author. NDTV Profit is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article.
