COVID AND INVESTMENTS BATTEL

Investments have gone for a toss. Savings have been diluted for paying bills. Mutual Fund stock redemptions have increased and will continue its journey.  In the coming months, we don't think that the impact of redemption will end. families are struggling to pay bills and many of them helplessly are letting people to loose as they could not afford the inflated cost.

How much valuable is Covid Insurance? Well the answer lies in 90460 have claimed and the amount stands to Rs. 11463 cr.   The covid insurance has been a boon for all those people who had health insurance policies as well for those who did not have health insurance policy. The reason being that Covid treatment is manipulative treatment cost. Do you all know how many families committed suicide? He due to Covid? How many people lost their loved ones due to the highly inflated cost of treatment? We all know that how much investments have been withdrawn for the treatment cost of Covid 19. People have sold their jewellery, took loan, mortgaged their houses to fight helplessly against the inflated covid treatment cost.  More redemptions to investment products  follow to fight against the inflated treatment cost of Covid -19

 Covid has created one of the biggest revolution particular in India about health insurance. Indian is a country where people lacked health insurance awareness and most importantly when it comes to insurance people are more concerned about what they will get when they are alive. Covid has changed the perception of the people about health insurance

People who had an employee group medical insurance neglected to have individual health insurance have changed their mind and have come for separate health insurance or covid insurance policies. One of the segments which opted or should opt for Covid insurance exclusively is those who have family floaters.

Now the question will come why those people require covid insurance separately when they already have family floater covering to the tune of Rs 10lacs to Rs.15 lakhs?  Since the malpractices in Covid treatments cost is so high that these coverage of family floaters are falling short.  For example a single injection of 648 mg cost form local vendor at the inflated price for Rs 1.5 lakh. The same is available at a better price – Rs 92,672. For 30 days of hospitalisation, his father was handed a bill of Rs. 10.26 lakh. Their medical insurance covered only Rs 4.5 lakh of the treatment cost. Further India has always been a low health insurance coverage market. People have simply taken health insurance just forsake.  This is a major flaw which still continues and it is prayed that the current times teach people to come out of this under insurance mindset.

In another instance 400 mg of tocilizumab cost for Rs 1.4 lakh.  One person managed to get the drug from three different vendors in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad for Rs 25,000 for 80 mg, Rs 32,000 for 400 mg, and Rs 42,000 for 400 mg.  The story is not yet over. In another instance, Ambulance charges Rs 8,000 for transporting Covid-19 patient for 200 metres. The PPE kit is being sold at Rs 2500 to Rs 4500 in many places.

In many states, beds are being sold and inflated prices of treatment are being offered. Hospitals have come up with a package model. It works out to ₹1 lakh per day for critical care, irrespective of which corporate hospital one goes to. A 20-day package costing ₹21 lakh based on the assumption that he or she might need ventilator support.

Government price capping cannot cap the malpractices. Hospitals have multiple options to charge money. The hospitals can charge additionally for Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), interventional procedures like bronchoscopy, biopsy, and pleural tapping, administration of high-end drugs, and high-end investigations like CT-Scan, MRI, and PET scan. Hence the Rs 20 lakhs bill is easily achievable by the hospital.

No family floater can save you or can help you to survive. In many cases, people and families have been forced to let their loved ones to get them loose. Health cost is a different story and manipulated prices are different ball game. Covid Insurance is no doubt is a boon for the middle class.  People have finally accepted that they need a health insurance policy.

 The penetration of health insurance across India stood at around 35% as of the financial year 2018. Lack of health insurance has impacted the families massively post emergencies. In many cases, household debt has swelled up creating more trouble for these middle-class people. The middle class who’s average salary is between Rs 15000 to 100000 has suffered massively.  The cash-rich people also suffered but they diluted their savings at the back of high-end medical cost based on their stature.

Covid is must over and above a family floater. The rising cost of covid treatment will fall short keeping traditional health coverage.