India is a developing country and a growing economy where the medical infrastructure hasn’t kept pace with the ever-increasing population. Either there aren’t enough medical care centers widely distributed across the country, or if there are some, they are privately held and relatively expensive for an ordinary man. Know that health insurance is an expense or an investment as per expert advice.
Health Insurance an Expense
- Life-long Benefits
- Tax Benefits
- Hospitalization Expenses
- Cashless Medical Treatment
As per the National Health Policy, 2015, a staggering 63 million people are pushed towards poverty due to “catastrophic” medical expenditure. The finances required to meet the medical care costs nullify any rise in incomes or any other government subsidies that one is availing at any given point in time. People have to empty their savings, borrow heavily, or watch someone close suffer due to inadequate finances required for timely treatment.
What’s adding to the misery is medical inflation. This rising cost of medical care year after year is hardly discussed in our drawing rooms. Compared to average inflation that is growing at a 5-6% rate, the medical inflation growth rate is 12-14%, higher than the return on any savings or the annual rise in incomes! The government hospitals are overcrowded, and typically they don’t offer the best regarding health care, while the private hospitals are out of reach for most Indians.
I hope this makes it amply clear that having health insurance needs to be the top priority for everyone. But how does it benefit you and me?
Let’s explain to you the several benefits that you enjoy after buying a health plan:
Table Content
1. Hospitalization Expenses
Having a health policy will ensure that you won’t have to pay for the hospitalization expenses as the insurance policy will take care of that. Not only that, even the pre and post-hospitalization expenses are covered, and the number of days varies from insurer to insurer. With funds in place, you can ensure that you or your loved one gets the best possible medical treatment.
2. Cashless Medical Treatment
In times of a medical emergency or an accident, the first thought is to arrange for immediate cash for admission to a good hospital. With every insurer offering cashless health plans in an extensive network of hospitals, it takes the stress off your mind. You can start the cashless treatment without worrying about arranging the finances. Cashless treatment is like a reward for an insured person. No one knows about tomorrow, but we all predict our tomorrow, and buying a health insurance policy is a step towards securing the future.
It is said that “being late is better than a met-up accident” if you are an insured person, then taking treatment cashlessly is a bit easy for you in the network hospital of your insurer company. Still, if you are admitted to a non-network hospital, you have to clear some paper, which will take some days. With the cashless treatment option, taking treatment in the network hospital is best for you, but you have to face little challenges if you want to take medicine in the non-network hospital.
3. Life-Long Benefits
The policy is not dependent on your age, and you can keep renewing the plans till you are alive. The premiums might change based on your health condition and age, but it all works out to your benefit when you need it the most, especially in the older generation. Most of the current plans come with a lifelong renewal option; talking about lifelong renewal means you can activate your policy at any time. You have to do only one thing, keep renewing your policy from time to time so that things do not become too difficult for you at any time of life.
4. Tax Benefits
This might be the most publicized benefit of buying a health policy, but it’s certainly not the most important. You do get tax benefits on the premium paid towards your plan under section 80D of the Income Tax Act, but do remember that more than tax savings, health plans protect you from the worries in the event of ill health.
Buying a health plan might look like a strain on your budget, but in reality, it is one of the most intelligent investments you will ever make to safeguard yourself and your family from financial hardships in times of health scares.
Find out about various plans in the market, do research online, compare different health care products and buy the one that meets your requirements. Health is wealth and will remain so!
Conclusion
Is Health Insurance an Expense or an Investment? Well, Both cause there is no difference between expense and investment. Let’s try to understand with an example if you are buying something; it means you are investing money to purchase something or spending money to buy something. It’s unnecessary to get a return with every investment, but purchasing a health insurance policy is like investing. Not today or maybe not tomorrow, but one day you will need it most, and that day, you will use the return of investment you made today. Expense means a “give & take” relationship, which means you are giving money or spending money for taking service. But investing means getting a return of money, not today or maybe not tomorrow, in a few years or more than a few years.