There was a story of a nurse who gave birth to a daughter prematurely. As she was born well before full term, many of the baby’s bodily functions had not fully developed. She had to be placed under intensive care for a substantial period, hooked up to various machines in order to stay alive. By the time she was discharged, the medical bill had amounted to almost a million dollars. Already distraught from her baby’s condition, the nurse sunk into despair when she saw the hospital bill. What hope could she have in ever repaying such a hefty sum?
An outsized hospital bill can easily blow your family finances out of the water.
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Read the news, and you will find many painful stories of people saddled with medical bills amounting to more than the average worker’s annual salary. At times, this can even be more than a typical worker’s lifetime income.
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It is not surprising that medical bills amount to substantially more than a typical worker’s salary. Medical services involve advanced equipment and highly skilled professionals who command high salaries, leading to sky high costs. The painful coincidence of this economic reality and the life-and-death healthcare needs drive many unfortunate souls into a corner. Many are rescued from death only to be saddled with a lifetime of slavery to debt.
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The mortal reality of ill health threatens us all. It is therefore important to be properly insured, so that we are not cornered into a choice between death and slavery.
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Health insurance takes care of a substantial portion of incurred hospitalisation bills. They typically come with an excess to reduce small claims which add substantially to administrative costs. Co-insurance, where the insured bears a small portion of the cost, moderates medical consumption. With proper health insurance, grotesquely large hospitalisation bills will no longer be a worry. An insured patient who undergoes extensive medical treatment bears only a small proportion of the entire medical bill.
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Regardless of your life circumstances, it pays to be properly covered. The considerations differ slightly depending on your life circumstances.
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For Singles
As an unmarried individual, you hold the reins to your own financial destiny. The future is yours to make. You are not directly responsible for the financial wellbeing of anyone else. Neither is anyone directly responsible for your financial wellbeing.
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That means you have to bear your own medical costs. Leave it to chance, and an outsized medical bill can scuttle your entire financial future. Without anybody to help you get afloat, you will be left to your own devices.
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Hence, it is up to you to put your financial house in order. Make sure you are properly covered, so that if something happens, you can get back on your feet.
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For Families
As a spouse to your beloved, or as a parent to your children, you bear a financial responsibility towards your family members. Not just to pay the bills when they arise, but also to ensure that the entire unit maintains an even keel financially.
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When one member suffers financially, the whole family suffers. Unlike a single person, any family member who is stricken with ill health and racks up a huge medical bill can wreak havoc on the entire family’s financial future.
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Health insurance is essential so that you do not pose a burden to the family’s finances should you require medical assistance. But it goes beyond that. Each member has to be covered, or else that point of weakness could prove fatal for the entire family’s finances. As one who is jointly responsible for the wellbeing of every member in the family, make every effort to safeguard the future of every single member.
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For Retirees with Adult Children
As a retiree with adult children, you have discharged your responsibilities in raising your family. Once your children stand on their feet financially, direct responsibility of their financial future rests on them. Even so, the responsibility to care for them as your flesh and blood, and your responsibility to guide them never ceases till the day you meet your Maker.
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It is thus paramount that you offer them proper guidance. Proper medical coverage will prevent temporary ill health from destroying their financial future. In so doing, you safeguard your own financial future. You protect yourself from having to dig into your hard earned retirement funds to rescue them from their financial negligence.
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As age catches on and your body is no longer what it used to be, be mindful about the well meaning intentions of your filial children. Different tiers of health insurance come with different entitlements to hospital wards and types of treatment. Well meaning children may place you under the best hospital care should you fall ill, with the potential unintended consequence of racking up a huge medical bill because your medical had a lower entitlement. That hospital bill could wreck your finances, or else severely compromise the future of your children and grandchildren. And when the burden is large, relationships become strained. Arguments over what a fair distribution of the bill might be may break out, especially when those who are less well off cannot pay, while those who were diligent in saving up are penalised for their good work. Your children risk being turned against one another. What was intended for good may turn bitter, unravelling relationships that took a lifetime to nurture.
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Take some time to talk about end of life issues with your children. Make very clear the level of treatment you want, in consideration of the broader financial circumstances of your extended family. Approach the issue rationally. Because at some point, it becomes a matter of exchanging your children and grandchildren’s future for a more comfortable hospital bed.