It’s not just about hospital bills: How health insurance protects your everyday life
Health insurance was never meant to be a one-time-use fire extinguisher. At its best, it’s more like a companion—working in the background, shaping the choices we make every single day.
- Jul 25, 2025,
- Updated Jul 25, 2025 1:04 PM IST
When we think of health insurance, our minds immediately go to hospital beds, surgeries, or ambulance rides. We picture emergencies intense, costly, and rare. The ICU lights. The oxygen masks. The panicked relatives at a billing counter. We think of health insurance as that red box on the wall, to be broken only in case of emergency.
But real life is quieter than that.
It’s the father who skips his annual check-up because “everything feels fine,” only to discover uncontrolled diabetes during a routine office health camp. It’s the young working couple who spends more on food delivery apps than on a comprehensive health plan—until a sudden viral illness eats up their entire monthly budget. It’s the gig worker who avoids going to the doctor altogether, fearing not the diagnosis but the bill that might follow.
Every year, over 55 million Indians are pushed below the poverty line due to health-related expenses. And what's even more staggering is that 70% of this spending is out-of-pocket—borne directly by families, not by any institution or safety net. This isn’t just about a medical crisis. This is about daily life being derailed, slowly and silently.
Health insurance was never meant to be a one-time-use fire extinguisher. At its best, it’s more like a companion—working in the background, shaping the choices we make every single day. From when we choose to seek help to how early we detect something, and whether we sleep with worry or peace, health insurance plays a role much earlier—and much deeper—than we often admit.
It isn’t about premiums or plans. It’s about how we rethink protection. Not just for hospital bills, but for life itself.
The Myth of the ‘Big Event’
Most people buy health insurance assuming it’ll come in handy “if something major happens.” A surgery, a road accident, cancer treatment. While that’s absolutely true, it also misses the larger point. Serious illnesses don’t appear out of thin air. They build up—quietly, slowly, invisibly. Through stress. Sedentary lifestyles. Ignored symptoms. Skipped check-ups.
The cost of not preventing a disease is far higher than the cost of treating it. That’s where insurance quietly steps in. Good plans today offer annual health check-ups, diagnostics, wellness programs, and access to preventive care. Not because it’s a “benefit,” but because prevention is protection too.
The Hidden Costs of Falling Ill
Illness doesn’t just cost you money. It costs you routine. It interrupts your child’s school pick-up, your meetings, your sleep, your appetite, your sense of control. For every hospital bill, there are ten invisible burdens—missed days of work, stress-induced quarrels at home, financial anxiety, elder care left unattended, a life moment postponed.
Health insurance buffers not just the financial strain but also the emotional aftershocks. A cashless claim, a 24x7 helpline, or just knowing that you won’t have to dip into your child’s education fund—these things add up. They allow you to breathe in the middle of chaos.
For the Self-Employed, Gig Workers, and Caregivers
In today’s world, health insurance isn’t just for the salaried or the elderly. It’s a lifeline for the people who hold our cities together in ways we rarely notice—freelancers juggling four clients to pay rent, gig workers delivering meals on time, single parents running both a household and a career, caregivers who stay home so someone else can survive.
These are lives without PF, without guaranteed leaves, without employer-sponsored health plans. For them, a single bout of illness doesn’t just derail a month—it can derail the year. One missed assignment. One hospital visit. One week away from work. That’s all it takes to fall behind on EMIs, rent, or school fees.
According to a report, over 40 crore Indians remain without any health insurance coverage, and a significant share of them are self-employed or informal sector workers. These are the very people who cannot afford the time or the money that illness demands.
For them, having health insurance isn’t about claiming it. It’s about something far more fundamental: continuity. Insurance protects momentum. It ensures that your life’s rhythm—your work, your goals, your responsibilities doesn’t collapse when life throws a curveball.
In a world built on uncertainty, protection shouldn’t be a privilege. It should be a minimum standard for staying in the game.
The Psychological Safety Net
We don’t talk enough about the mental relief that insurance brings. We talk about reimbursements, premiums, networks, but rarely about peace of mind.
There’s a confidence that comes from knowing you’re protected. That if something goes wrong, you won’t have to break into your child’s savings, take a loan from a relative, or postpone critical treatment because the money isn’t ready. There’s a system, not just a savings account that has your back.
For many, this invisible cushion is the difference between surviving and moving forward. It’s what allows a young couple to take a sabbatical and start something of their own. It’s what lets a single woman take that solo trip she’s been putting off. It’s what gives an ageing parent the courage to walk into a hospital early, before the illness becomes a crisis.
When you strip away the policy jargon, true coverage isn’t just about hospital bills. It’s about protecting your ability to live life fully, with fewer what-ifs. It’s about enabling choice, without the shadow of financial fear always looming over it.
That’s the kind of insurance that matters. The kind that doesn’t just pay, it empowers.
A New Definition of Health
If health is the state of physical, mental, and social well-being—not just the absence of disease—then health insurance, too, must evolve beyond hospital bills. It must be seen as an enabler. A stabilizer. A safeguard for daily life, not just disaster.
Because the real cost of illness isn’t always in rupees. It’s in what we lose when we don’t feel safe, seen, or supported. And that’s what insurance must ultimately protect.
(Views are personal; the author is CEO, Bajaj Capital Insurance Broking Ltd)
When we think of health insurance, our minds immediately go to hospital beds, surgeries, or ambulance rides. We picture emergencies intense, costly, and rare. The ICU lights. The oxygen masks. The panicked relatives at a billing counter. We think of health insurance as that red box on the wall, to be broken only in case of emergency.
But real life is quieter than that.
It’s the father who skips his annual check-up because “everything feels fine,” only to discover uncontrolled diabetes during a routine office health camp. It’s the young working couple who spends more on food delivery apps than on a comprehensive health plan—until a sudden viral illness eats up their entire monthly budget. It’s the gig worker who avoids going to the doctor altogether, fearing not the diagnosis but the bill that might follow.
Every year, over 55 million Indians are pushed below the poverty line due to health-related expenses. And what's even more staggering is that 70% of this spending is out-of-pocket—borne directly by families, not by any institution or safety net. This isn’t just about a medical crisis. This is about daily life being derailed, slowly and silently.
Health insurance was never meant to be a one-time-use fire extinguisher. At its best, it’s more like a companion—working in the background, shaping the choices we make every single day. From when we choose to seek help to how early we detect something, and whether we sleep with worry or peace, health insurance plays a role much earlier—and much deeper—than we often admit.
It isn’t about premiums or plans. It’s about how we rethink protection. Not just for hospital bills, but for life itself.
The Myth of the ‘Big Event’
Most people buy health insurance assuming it’ll come in handy “if something major happens.” A surgery, a road accident, cancer treatment. While that’s absolutely true, it also misses the larger point. Serious illnesses don’t appear out of thin air. They build up—quietly, slowly, invisibly. Through stress. Sedentary lifestyles. Ignored symptoms. Skipped check-ups.
The cost of not preventing a disease is far higher than the cost of treating it. That’s where insurance quietly steps in. Good plans today offer annual health check-ups, diagnostics, wellness programs, and access to preventive care. Not because it’s a “benefit,” but because prevention is protection too.
The Hidden Costs of Falling Ill
Illness doesn’t just cost you money. It costs you routine. It interrupts your child’s school pick-up, your meetings, your sleep, your appetite, your sense of control. For every hospital bill, there are ten invisible burdens—missed days of work, stress-induced quarrels at home, financial anxiety, elder care left unattended, a life moment postponed.
Health insurance buffers not just the financial strain but also the emotional aftershocks. A cashless claim, a 24x7 helpline, or just knowing that you won’t have to dip into your child’s education fund—these things add up. They allow you to breathe in the middle of chaos.
For the Self-Employed, Gig Workers, and Caregivers
In today’s world, health insurance isn’t just for the salaried or the elderly. It’s a lifeline for the people who hold our cities together in ways we rarely notice—freelancers juggling four clients to pay rent, gig workers delivering meals on time, single parents running both a household and a career, caregivers who stay home so someone else can survive.
These are lives without PF, without guaranteed leaves, without employer-sponsored health plans. For them, a single bout of illness doesn’t just derail a month—it can derail the year. One missed assignment. One hospital visit. One week away from work. That’s all it takes to fall behind on EMIs, rent, or school fees.
According to a report, over 40 crore Indians remain without any health insurance coverage, and a significant share of them are self-employed or informal sector workers. These are the very people who cannot afford the time or the money that illness demands.
For them, having health insurance isn’t about claiming it. It’s about something far more fundamental: continuity. Insurance protects momentum. It ensures that your life’s rhythm—your work, your goals, your responsibilities doesn’t collapse when life throws a curveball.
In a world built on uncertainty, protection shouldn’t be a privilege. It should be a minimum standard for staying in the game.
The Psychological Safety Net
We don’t talk enough about the mental relief that insurance brings. We talk about reimbursements, premiums, networks, but rarely about peace of mind.
There’s a confidence that comes from knowing you’re protected. That if something goes wrong, you won’t have to break into your child’s savings, take a loan from a relative, or postpone critical treatment because the money isn’t ready. There’s a system, not just a savings account that has your back.
For many, this invisible cushion is the difference between surviving and moving forward. It’s what allows a young couple to take a sabbatical and start something of their own. It’s what lets a single woman take that solo trip she’s been putting off. It’s what gives an ageing parent the courage to walk into a hospital early, before the illness becomes a crisis.
When you strip away the policy jargon, true coverage isn’t just about hospital bills. It’s about protecting your ability to live life fully, with fewer what-ifs. It’s about enabling choice, without the shadow of financial fear always looming over it.
That’s the kind of insurance that matters. The kind that doesn’t just pay, it empowers.
A New Definition of Health
If health is the state of physical, mental, and social well-being—not just the absence of disease—then health insurance, too, must evolve beyond hospital bills. It must be seen as an enabler. A stabilizer. A safeguard for daily life, not just disaster.
Because the real cost of illness isn’t always in rupees. It’s in what we lose when we don’t feel safe, seen, or supported. And that’s what insurance must ultimately protect.
(Views are personal; the author is CEO, Bajaj Capital Insurance Broking Ltd)