Hi folks,
I know we've been hearing from the government, TV ads, from YouTubers since several years, why a health insurance is extremely important, as a single hospitalisation is enough to wipe your entire life's savings, life is unpredictable, lakhs in hospital bills, people end up selling their property, gold, borrowing from relatives and friends, so their loved one could see another day. The same trope has been repeated a thousand times already. So please, save up and get health insurance.
I brought one too paying 35k for it, caught up in all the hype, but after actually looking around, reading medical guidelines, researching about diseases and talking to doctors, I realised, it's mostly a propoganda by insurance companies. Looking at the data, an average Indian gets admitted once in 30 years, mind you this is an average, heavily skewerd by chronically ill people, taking that out, it's about once or twice in their lifetime, if you're already healthy, and develop no major illnesses, or manage the existing ones well, the risk is lower.
Looking at the actual diseases people get hospitalized for in India are, infections followed by heart disease/diabities, digestive issues and accidents. Excluding infections and accidents, 90% of all diseases people have are easily predictable. Modern medicine works on the principle of prevention, most non-infections diseases can be easily predicted, managed without ever needing hospitalisation, sounds weird but true. Heart diseases for example, starts early with hypertension about 15 years before, people don't get themselves annually checked, progresses to stage 2/hypertensive crisis in a few years, people don't bother to check, and during a random check-up, they realise they've got BP, like most Indian parents, and put on meds, which they don't take as prescribed, or don't change their lifestyle. The same goes for diabetes, which brews for a decade, before finally symptoms show up, and the disease has caused significant kidney damage, get hospitalized, and the cry about it on the internet, and run donate me campaigns on Ketto/ImpactGuru.
Heart attack, Kidney disease, respiratory problems, sudden organ failures, strokes, sudden digestive issues, kidney/gall stones, All of these common illnesses could be prevented by annual checkups, sticking to the protocols, and focus on prevention, focusing on lifestyle so your body doesn't reach that state of absolute failure. If you do all of these correctly, the true probability of hospitalisation is extremely low, I've seen my 80 year old grandma, uncles with fat bellies, multiple heart attacks, diabeties etc, all managed well later and a decade passed with no hospitalisation. The worst part is Insurance in India doesn't usually cover OPD, which easily costs a few thousand at least if you're in a tier-1 city like me, most will have to go through USG, CT, MRI and tons of other tests before they get a proper diagnosis, easily costing 5-10k, even before they're considered for a hospitalisation.
The only exceptions here are Cancer & Accidents, which are completely unpredictable. What if I lose my savings to that? That's where deductible and super top-ups come in, if you're fit, and so is your family and no major illness in sight after your regular checkups, get a super top-up policy, triggering around a lakh costing peanuts, or if you feel there could be a risk due to lifestyle factors like obesity or smoking, get a good policy with the maximum deductible, usually 30-50k, costing 20-25k a year, easily manageable for most middle class famalies, start saving up the deductible amount, so it could be redeemed someday, but paying 40-50k for your 60-70 year old parent, who doesn't even have have an illness or an easily manageable one, is rather a waste, most middle class families would be better off, if they stick to protocols, get checked regularly, keep educating themselves on health, than wasting hard earned money on insurance, there is quite a lot of fear mongering going on by these companies and influencers, hence decided to post it. Please don't be swayed away, and if you have extra bucks for that extra security, go spend it. Nevertheless, one should always have a super topup, even if no base policy, so you don't have to sell everything during the crisis.