How Health Insurance Helped Fight Cancer

Being diagnosed with cancer is an emotionally exhausting experience. It is also a financially draining experience, as Rhea found out when she was hit with the terrible diagnosis. Suddenly the expenses just started piling up. First there were the doctors’ fees. Then the countless tests - x-rays, CT scans, MRIs. Then came the medicines, the radiation treatments, the hospital stays…the list was endless. Halfway through her treatment Rhea felt drained. But she had the strength to continue because she had plenty of emotional and financial support. Her friends and family were cheering for her recovery… and thanks to some good advice in the past, she had health insurance to cover her financially.

Discussing insurance can be difficult, but it is important

Rhea remembered how she had reacted when her husband brought up the topic of health insurance. Just hearing the word 'insurance' had scared her. "Nothing is going to happen to us!" she had shouted. "We are in good health. We don’t need any kind of insurance!" But her husband had always been the wiser one.

"You never know what the future holds, Rhea," he had said. "Getting insurance doesn't mean there will be a need to use it. But should our situation change, we need to be prepared." So finally Rhea relented, and they moved on to the next step – finding the right policy. Her husband took his time to make a decision. He wanted to research everything thoroughly.

Selecting the right kind of insurance may take time and effort, but it's worth it

"In India there are two types of healthcare insurance," he had said. "We have cashless hospitalisation and we have medical reimbursement. Cashless hospitalisation means that if we are hospitalized, we won't need to pay for the hospital expenses when we are discharged. The expenses are settled directly by the insurer. If we take medical reimbursement on the other hand, we would need to pay the hospital expenses when we are discharged. But after that, we can claim medical reimbursement."

And her husband didn't stop there. After selecting the insurance type, he checked the policy coverage. He asked if pre-existing conditions, and the complications resulting from these conditions, were covered in the policy. He found out which illnesses were covered in the policy, and he studied the cover amount, the claim procedure and the insuring company’s payment history.

Protecting yourself with insurance can increase your odds for survival

Rhea’s husband made a good, informed choice. Their health insurance covered most types of cancer. Even better, their policy covered the early, as well as advanced stages of cancer. It even covered preventive services like free cancer screening tests, which is why Rhea’s cancer was detected at an early stage. This really increased her chances of survival.

Being covered by cancer insurance was such a boon. All of Rhea’s basic health expenses were all taken care off. Rhea shuddered when she thought about how things could have been if she hadn’t listened to her husband’s prudent thinking. They would have had to pay for all those costs from their own pockets. It was unimaginable. In most likelihood, she would have had to stop her treatment halfway. Or maybe she would have not got treated at all.

Remember, insurance doesn’t just protect you...it also protects your loved ones

Health insurance was protection, Rhea realised. It had certainly protected them! And all it took was a few clicks of a button. They just had to log on to their insurance provider’s website and buy the policy of their choice online. Imagine… such a simple solution to what could have been a disastrous problem!