Are You Just One Bill Away From Medical Bankruptcy?

Let’s start with three uncomfortable but unavoidable facts:

Fact No. 1: Health issues are multiplying faster than WhatsApp forwards.
Fact No. 2: Healthcare expenses are ballooning like the budget of a big, fat Indian wedding.
Fact No. 3: Health insurance premiums are swelling every birthday—like a belly after one too many cheat days.

Result:
One serious illness in the family can single-handedly demolish your net worth, your emergency fund, and your belief in “I’ll manage somehow.”

This is why health insurance is not just health insurance.
It is also wealth insurance.

Buying Basic Health Insurance Is Just the Trailer, Not the Movie

Many people think:

“I’ve bought a health insurance policy. Job done.”

Wrong.

That’s like buying a lock for your door and assuming your house has Z-plus security and NSG on speed dial.

In reality, surviving medical inflation requires a multi-layered defence system—not a single policy bought in panic after reading a scary tweet.

Let’s build this system properly.

The 5-Layer Protection Plan Against Medical Bankruptcy

Layer 1: Basic Health Insurance Cover

This is your foundation.

Buy a standard indemnity-based health insurance policy, where the insurer pays your actual hospitalization expenses (subject to limits, exclusions, and fine print written in microscopic font).

For a normal family with no alarming medical history, a cover of Rs.5-10 lakhs can usually handle routine hospitalizations.

This is the first wall. Necessary, but not sufficient.

Layer 2: Super Top-Up Policy

Here’s where most people get smart—or regret not doing so.

Costs for serious or prolonged illnesses can easily touch Rs.10–50 lakh. Buying a base policy for such a huge cover is expensive.

Instead:

• Keep your base cover modest
• Add a Rs.10–50 lakh Super Top-Up policy

Same protection. Much lower premium.
This is your second line of defence, and an absolute must.

Layer 3: Critical Illness Cover

Regular policies handle hospital bills.
Critical illness policies handle financial shock.

Cancer, heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure—these don’t just cost money, they cost time, income, and sanity.

Critical illness cover pays a lump sum, regardless of actual hospital bills. You can use it for:

• Loss of income
• Recovery
• Lifestyle adjustments
• (and also) Treatment

A Rs.20-50 lakhs Critical Illness Cover is your shield for such worst-case scenarios.

Layer 4: Daily Hospitalization Plans

No policy covers everything.

There are always “uninsured” expenses:

• Attendant costs
• Travel
• Food
• Sundry charges hospitals invent creatively

A daily hospitalization plan pays a fixed amount per day of hospital stay, helping you manage these leaks.

Optional? Yes.
Useful? Also yes—if affordable.

Layer 5: Your Own Health Corpus

Here’s the grown-up truth:
Relying 100% on insurance is risky.

Premiums rise with age. Policies change. Renewals become expensive. Managing multiple covers becomes tiring.

That’s why you must build a health corpus—your own pool of money, just like a retirement fund.

This corpus:

• Absorbs part of medical costs
• Reduces dependence on insurance
• Protects your long-term investments

Insurance + personal corpus = sustainable strategy.

Final Reality Check

No financial security system is perfect.

But planned protection beats blind optimism every single time.

Given:

• The rising threat of medical emergencies
• The scale of potential financial damage

Complacency is not an option.

Protecting your health is important.
Protecting your wealth from health-related shocks is critical.

Don’t let medical bills catch you off guard—‘Sick Business’ by Dr. Sumanth C. Raman reveals the hidden costs of healthcare in India, and a why 'smart health insurance plan' matters...a lot.



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