5 reasons you need a medical insurance policy

Show us one good reason for not having medical insurance, and we will show you two ways in which you can ruin your life by not having it.

Let us consider this scenario: you run a family of four (you, wife, two children) and you are paying off a home loan from your salary. One day, you meet with an accident on the way home from work. You require hospitalisation for three weeks. Your salary is deducted for the days you are absent, and your savings are all used up for your hospitalisation. This month, you have no money in your bank account for your home loan EMI.

Consider another situation: your father suffers a fall at home and requires immediate hip replacement surgery. You decide to claim insurance from the coverage provided by your employer. But while the surgery costs Rs 1,50,000, you can claim only up to Rs 50,000. The remaining money must come from your pocket – and you do not have the money.

In both cases, you end up paying hefty sums of money because you do not have health insurance or have insufficient coverage. This is what happens when you do not get medical insurance.

And this is what happens when you do:

1. Invest in your future.

Your future is important to you. All that you do in the present determines the way your future shapes up. By purchasing a medical insurance plan, you are creating a corpus for future use. Despite the most stringent saving and investments, you can still end up spending everything in just one hospital visit. Medical insurance will ensure that you do not have to dip into your savings to finance your health care.

2. Secure your family.

If you cannot go to work owing to an illness or your unfortunate death, your family may be left penniless. A sudden loss of income and existing liabilities such as a home loan may reduce your family to penury. They may have to depend on others for sustenance. However, taking a medical insurance policy that covers the entire family will negate such eventualities.

3. Instil financial discipline.

People are very sensitive towards the needs of their family. Hence, there is very little likelihood of one being remiss with premium payments. Nobody likes their medical insurance plan to lapse, so they are normally very prompt with payments and renewals. If one has taken a medical insurance policy with a higher premium payment, one is inclined to be circumspect about overspending. The premium payment process instils financial discipline.

4. Get access to quality healthcare.

If you do not have medical insurance in India, you are liable to spend large amounts of your money to finance hospitalisation and treatment. People who do not have health insurance are forced to defer treatment till they can gather the necessary funds. Or they are forced to break the treatment down in phases. As opposed to this, medical insurance plans ensure that you can get timely treatment at the facility of your choice.

5. Get tax benefits

You might feel the pinch when paying high premiums, but you also get a tax benefit on these payments. This is an indirect saving for you. Based on the medical insurance policy you take, you can also get bonuses for claim-free tenure.