As I have often said at seminars as well as in this column earlier too – A vast majority of Indians who can afford it are grossly under-insured, be it in terms of Life Insurance or Health Insurance (Mediclaim). Many took a Mediclaim Policy ages ago when the cover they took was believed to be more than adequate. However, like all other costs, medical costs too have escalated and what seemed an adequate cover now qualifies for being termed, as under-insured.
Mind you, some of their reasons for non or underinsurance have at times bordered on the absurd. I have known a successful businessman, who, though convinced about the need to take Life Insurance as well as Health Cover, insisted on providing an alternate address due to a strange belief in his family that those who purchased Life Insurance were inviting death, and those purchasing Mediclaim were inviting a host of serious illnesses.
Mind you, I am referring here to a qualified engineer from an institution of fair repute.
Till a few years ago, barely 10% of those with the means were interested in buying Mediclaim to cover new age diseases. However, since the advent of the fear instilled by the pandemic, 71% consider Mediclaim a necessity.
Of these, 57% of those surveyed claimed to understand the importance of comprehensive health insurance plans. These were the results of a Health Insurance Survey undertaken post the first wave of the pandemic by a private player in the health insurance space.
The stretching of an already shaky public healthcare system in many parts of the country, horror stories of prohibitive medical costs in private hospitals, uncertainty around the optimal line of treatment and the possibility of a forced quarantine over a long period that disrupts regular income seemed to have forced people back then, to re-prioritise and purchase health insurance plans.
All of a sudden, assuming the survey has captured it accurately, as much as 73% of the people surveyed were genuinely concerned about escalating medical costs, which catapults it higher on the priority list than goals like children’s education and marriage besides post-retirement life.
Perhaps, it was the fear factor induced by the pandemic that drove the above-mentioned huge surge in positive respondents at that point in time. So, will the trend of growing demand for Mediclaim decline now? It should not, as the cost of good medical treatment across the country is rising and leaving oneself and one’s family under-insured or worse still, uncovered is a clear-cut recipe for disaster.
It is thus time to not only buy Mediclaim for those who have not yet got it, but also time for those who already have Mediclaim to consult an expert advisor on whether they are adequately insured.
Chances are, one would stand enlightened about the financial risk one has been exposing one’s family and oneself to.
An avoidable, unwise risk.
Ashok Kumar
Head of LKW-India. He can be reached at ceolotus@hotmail.com