World Tuberculosis Day – Reduce financial stress with health insurance - Times of India

March 24th is commemorated as the World Tuberculosis Day.

This necessitates the need for us to take a look at the facts of the disease.

According to a WHO report, 2020 witnessed a total of 1.5 million TB deaths and the disease is the 13th leading cause of death on a global scale. TB is the second leading infectious killer after Covid-19, ranking above HIV/AIDS, thus making a case for the urgent need to combat the illness. In fact, India is the country with the most number of cases, and while we can take precautions to prevent the disease, it is important to also consider the means to combat the illness, if we or our family members do fall prey to it.

Impact of TB on your financials

In addition to damaging your health and affecting your lungs, the expensive treatments can burn a hole through your pocket, thus attacking you on all fronts. While diagnosis and treatment is offered free of cost, under the national TB programme, news reports and studies state that almost 50% of the patients go through ‘catastrophic’ health expenditure. This causes middle and lower class households to suffer financially, prompting them to cut back on basic expenses. Further, the diagnosis and treatment of the disease require a number of steps and tests, leading to additional and long-term expenses.

Managing expenses via health insurance

One of the biggest benefits of health insurance is the fact that access to the policy benefits helps you focus on the best treatment and regaining health, without worrying about the expenses being incurred. This is especially true in the case of TB, wherein the diagnosis and treatment can take years to be completed, draining the household of a significant amount of money, if there is no policy coverage.

To protect yourself and your loved ones from the onslaught of TB treatment costs, you can choose critical covers offering TB protection. You should always choose a policy that covers hospitalisation costs as there is no judging the severity of the disease or how often the patient may need to be hospitalised. Further, it is best to choose a critical illness cover that offers protection against TB and other serious diseases as it safeguards your finances from a variety of severe illnesses and accompanying, exorbitant medical costs. Also remember to cover your family with the health insurance policy as TB is an airborne disease and could affect other family members if one person contracts the illness.

Protection under health insurance

People across age groups and demographics can be affected by TB, especially if they have a weak immune system. Considering the stress of living in cities, and the pollution we face every day, TB is a very real threat for all of us. In this dreadful scenario, having a health insurance policy can help ease our worries. Health insurance policies offering critical illness cover against TB provide you with the following benefits –

Reimbursements for treatment costs of up to Rs. 50,000, reimbursement for diagnostic test expenses, coverage against doctors’ fees and medical expenses, as well as the room rent during hospitalisation. You can also avail the benefit of treatment charges, which include aspects such as room rent, ICU charges, transportation, doctor fees, etc.

In a world where we are regularly battling infections and diseases, let us ensure that we are completely prepared to combat all eventualities in the best way possible.

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