Four reasons this decision can't wait
These apply as much to the younger generation as to the baby boomers — and to every generation in between.
A faster life, and the health cost that comes with it
Longer working hours, frequent travel — for work and for holidays — irregular meals, too little exercise, and rising air and water pollution in most cities. The lifestyle that funds the plan is often the same lifestyle that tests your health.
Employer insurance is not your insurance
Job changes are frequent, and right-sizing has become an occupational hazard. Group insurance provided as a perk can disappear on a single day, leaving a medical emergency to be met from savings — or worse, borrowings. A personal policy, bought while you are healthy, travels with you.
Medical inflation outpaces everything else
Health care costs have grown exponentially over the last decade and are the single biggest threat to a household's financial health, now and in retirement. Even disciplined retirement planning goes off track if medical costs are projected at ordinary inflation. Global healthcare spending has reached approximately USD 9.8 trillion annually, according to consolidated global tracking by the World Health Organization (WHO) and industry data synthesized in recent Deloitte Global Health Care Outlook reports.
Longer lives, longer exposure
Longer working spans and greater longevity mean ageing families and more years of medical spending. That risk does not disappear if you ignore it — you simply carry it yourself.
What to look for before you buy
- A family floater of ₹10–25 lakh in metro cities, topped up with a super top-up for large claims at a small extra premium.
- Insurance bought young: premiums are lower and pre-existing-disease waiting periods are served well before you need them.
- Personal accident and critical-illness insurance where the household income depends heavily on one person.
- Read the waiting periods, room-rent limits, co-pay clauses, day-care list and network hospitals before you compare premiums.
- Keep your own policy even when the employer provides one, and disclose your medical history honestly at proposal stage.
The bottom line
Buy protection before you buy returns. An adequately sized health policy, bought early and renewed without a break, is what allows the rest of the plan — the emergency fund, the goal SIPs, the retirement corpus — to stay invested when life is difficult.