Stay healthy, stay wealthy

by Sujata Kabraji
Published 31st January 2010, The Sunday Times
The age of touting mutual funds is over and the age of selling fear has started.. Fear for your life, fear for your health, fear for your loved ones. The temptation to say no to the neighbourhood pesky 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'.


Health 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 costs of a longish stay in a hospital. More importantly, we should know that costs can be far higher once the hospital part is done with. It's the post surgery care that often eats large holes into our finances. This is rarely covered by mediclaim, which only covers hospitalisation. But most medical policies, governemnt or private, have add-on options worth considering. For example, non-hospital expenses can be covered by the 'critical illness cover' which must be bought separately. Similarly, say you are having a cataract or some other surgery that doesn't require you to be in hospital, 'surgical cover' is an add-on where you get a fixed benefit regardless of the bill amount.

Previously, we didnt have much choice--there was mediclaim or mediclaim. In more recent years, a few more options have come up. It's a bit of a land mine to navigate when you want to evaluate whether to top up your health cover and if so with what, and how much. The sweat is in the nitty gritty--which diseases are covered, whether to take a mediclaim family policy or a floater. But once its done, at least you can heave a sigh of relief that you wont get wiped out financially if you fall ill!!!