Why Health Insurance has become so Important Financial Product Today?

The skyrocketing medical cost today has made the health insurance an essential financial product of our life. Medical emergencies can knock on our doors any time and even a small hospitalization can dent your entire savings, leaving us shattered and broken. A health insurance policy comes to our rescue in such unexpected cases covering the financial loss to a great extent. Though a health insurance policy may not provide you protection for emotional loss, it provides coverage for people during medical emergencies and especially when they are dependent on funds for survival.

According to a cross-national survey on health, conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in the first half of 2014, the cost of treatment rose at a double-digit pace of growth, outpacing average inflation in both rural and urban India over the past decade.

With India being the fastest-growing economies in the world, and hence the earning potentials of Indians have increased. People prefer better life, and nobody wants to receive medical care at a government hospital; due to the pathetical condition of government hospitals in India.

Recent research on “the quality of medical care in public and private hospitals in India” jointly conducted by World Bank, University of Michigan, and the University of California shows that –

A – Although, private practitioners/hospitals often over-charge patients (and recommend unnecessary tests), on balance they provide better quality care compared to public hospitals.

B – Due to quality care at private hospitals, the proportion of people visiting private hospitals in urban India has increased by nearly 6 percentage points to 68% over the past decade, and the proportion of those using government hospitals in rural areas has remained nearly unchanged despite a massive expansion of rural health infrastructure over the past decade.

C- Poor condition of public hospitals and health centers is forcing an increasing number of patients to turn to private medical centers. This, in turn, has raised costs and led to increasing financial stress in the absence of any insurance cover for ailments.

This is where a health insurance policy comes into the picture and is great support. This assistance ensures your family thereby assuring complete peace of mind for the affected and his/her family. Everyone wants to get the best treatment and does not compromise in seeking anything that is inferior.  This leads to a situation where you lose all your savings and are most likely to end up in a financial crisis.

The Indian government, in order to propagate the idea of health insurance, has come up with great tax benefits of health insurance under the 80 D section of the Income Tax Act, on health insurance policy premiums.

As Indian health insurance sector is witnessing a boom with several foreign players coming to India, tying up with domestic players and offering verities of innovative mediclaim, critical illness, and personal accident policies for individuals and for entire families as well. In the current situation, you need to be very careful while choosing a health insurance policy. You can perform thorough research over the internet in order to pick the best out of several. Apart from comparing their prices, you also need to compare different features and benefits under the policies.