t is good to be scared sometimes. Being scared means you care. It shows you are concerned about your and your family’s health & well-being. It also means you are aware of the risks and are willing to take the necessary steps to be safe.
COVID 19 second wave is here. The very moment when we thought life was coming back on track, it’s gone topsy-turvy. And the second wave seems to be more dangerous than ever, spreading faster than before.
The pandemic is unprecedented and beyond imagination. It’s a nightmare affecting not just your town and country but the entire world. It has exposed the uncertainties in life. And it is not only COVID 19, life can throw other health challenges, anytime & anywhere, leading to grave consequences.
These situations spare no one, be top-notch celebrities or your next-door neighbor. Everyone from Akshay Kumar, Aamir Khan, Kriti Sanon, Bhumi Pednekar, Kartik Aaryan have been affected by COVID recently. This not only affects one’s health but causes physical, mental and financial trauma.
It is known that life is perennially uncertain. None knows what’s going to happen the next moment, especially when it comes to illnesses and diseases.
Here, I would like to share a real-life incident. My next-door neighbor, Sameer uncle and his wife, an elderly couple, experienced a tough time recently. They never ventured out unless necessary. I was surprised when they tested COVID 19 positive. I wondered, how did they get infected in spite of being so careful? They sanitized their hands regularly, wore masks at all times, yet were not able to protect themselves from COVID. Sameer uncle had to be hospitalized and returned home after 10 days with hospital bills running into lakhs.
“It was a mistake we did not have health insurance,” said Sameer uncle in introspection when I went to his home for a cup of tea.
Insurance? Is it so important? What would I do if something similar happened to me?
Not only COVID 19, what if someone gets a sudden heart attack and needs urgent surgery? What if one doesn’t have enough cash for the necessary treatment to save a life? What if you meet with an accident while travelling to office?
Such scary thoughts, indeed!!!
Have you watched The Illegal? The newly released Hollywood movie where the protagonist’s father had no health insurance and his family had to beg for surgery after a sudden heart problem?
In the movie, the hospital staff asks family members as the father lay on the operation table, “Do you have health insurance? And the family says “no”, as they face a shortage of funds. A situation you and I could face anytime in life.
Be it a pandemic like COVID, or an untoward life-threatening accident or deadly diseases like malaria or dengue, these unforeseen emergencies can send life in a tizzy.
While doing research online, I stumbled upon Reliance General, where I found all relevant information about health insurance products that could suit your and your family’s requirement. A few of the policies I came across were Health Infinity, a policy that offers benefits like no sub-limit, day-care treatment coverage, robotic surgery coverage, sum assured restoration, among various other benefits.
Arogya Sanjeevani policy also covers special treatments and cataract surgeries with certain limitations. Furthermore, an important benefit offered by Health Gain policy is that it covers several members of a single-family under the same plan by paying a single premium in a year, which can be easily bought on easy EMI’s. In case of multiple illnesses, the sum insured gets distributed among the members.
In addition to the traditional health insurance policies, there are more specific products like Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak, meant specifically for the current stressful situation. Corona Kavach & Corona Rakshak Policies are affordable Health Insurance policy options that protect you and your family against hospitalization expenses due to COVID-19.
And that led me to a question, how much insurance coverage (sum assured) is sufficient? To answer that, you need to decide the sum assured as per the number of members in your family to provide sufficient coverage to each member. Usually, the policy premium you pay are nominal amounts as compared to the benefit they offer during medical emergencies. The financial stress a medical emergency can cause and the lakhs that you end up spending on the treatment could all be avoided by paying a nominal premium for your health insurance. Due to the sky-rocketing inflation situation, even a small medical emergency can burn a hole in your savings. In such difficult scenarios – a health insurance policy comes as a saviour to you.
I urge those reading this article to get themselves insured. Keep your strength in saving your loved ones, keeping them and yourself happy. Leave the financial headache to the insurance companies and get the best medical treatment for your family. Lack of insurance or insufficient sum assured should not be the reason – you or your loved one get deprived of the best that medicine can offer you.
Get an insurance coverage today! I surely got myself and my family covered.