I am inuke the expert on medical inflation, well I may not be the expert you are looking for but I sure have some opinions based on personal experience. Why I am sharing this you ask? Well, It's Tuesday and while my original plan for Tuesday was to have naked Tuesdays, I’ve been told not to go that wild here on Hive. Let's discuss something finance-related. Today's topic is really important and serious and many of us often ignore it.
Ever heard the expression “Health is Wealth”? Yup, that old thing in Hindi is “Jaan hai to Jahan hain”. It fits 100% correctly in the finance. I think soon they will be teaching yoga, meditation and self-care in Finance too. Let me give you some background. I suffered from a serious stomach infection a couple of years back. And it took approx 3 months for me to heal completely with the help of medicines of course. Those were not cheap I had to shell out a good share of my income on them. There were so many of them. One for managing the pain, one for healing, one for managing the side effects. Anyway, I lived on that cocktail of meds for those few months. And by the time I recovered, I noticed that my savings had been dented.
The thing is during a time of medical crisis you don’t sit and plan your finances, survival takes priority and If you have funds, you pay for the meds. If you don't, You borrow or look for alternatives, but never in a million years I can imagine that oh!! I am saving that for my guitar I can't use that for my healthcare. Nope, Like I said before on the first alarm of the medical crisis the guitar plan goes on hold now all the available funds are the ‘I need to be fixed and functioning funds’.
Now you must be wondering what is the point I am trying to make. Well, recently when I shifted from Chennai to Trichy I had some health issues. And without wasting time I consulted the doctor fearing the recurrence of the infection. The good news was that it wasn't the bugs paying me visit, just me trying to adjust to the new environment. But what surprised me was that the doctor wrote me prescriptions just to be safe. It was a single dose of the same medicine I used two years back. Do you know how much I paid? I paid around 280 for 6 tablets. That's 140 for each set. I used to pay 96 per set during my treatment. That is approximately 40% in 2 years. In fact I have this checked with Priya worked as a pharmacist before the meeting and she agreed. Conclusion - The same meds costing more now.
What's more, the doctor charged me INR 500 for a visit. In Chennai, I was paying INR 1200 for the doc to look up my butt. Now here is the kicker, the guy was a specialist and almost all the specialists charge at that rate. The general physician's charges were 300-400. The one I visited in Trichy was a general physician. When enquired the charges are going up day everywhere. Chennai the Pulmonologist I consulted for my New Year cough that lasted till April charges INR 2000 Now.
See, we can go on and on on the subject. The point is Health is Wealth. Good health will grant you opportunities to earn more. Bad health is going to cost you more. Just a bad cough can take up to INR 25K in diagnosis, the CT scans, Lab Tests, Consultation fees and 100 other things definitely going to poke holes in your wallet. Having health insurance is good, But one should also invest in health which doesn't rely on insurance for every cough and sneeze.
TLDR; Stay healthy, Stay Wealthy. Being sick makes you broke
Hi Folks,
I am serious about it, people don't notice but for someone who has to monitor the blood work and buy medicines might notice the steep climb in prices. My mom needs regular blood tests, It used to cost near about INR 4300 and now after 2 Years, it costs INR 5500. While the reports and other things can say that inflation in medicine is 12-14% I think that has been highly adjusted. Anyway, the point is to stay fit and stay wealthy. Medicines going to cure you but it is going to cost you too.
As always thanks to IndiaUnited and BeAwesome community for their love and support. Also shoutout to @byebyehamburgers not only he is dedicated to fitness and inspiring he also has a very cool handle. 🍻
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