Buying a health insurance plan for the family is the most important financial investment you can make, given the costs of serious health incidents. Even before you do anything else in your personal finance journey, get health cover to the extent you can afford.

`In 2014, the last year for which data is available, the Avg cost of inpatient care per hospitalisation was Rs 26,475 in urban areas & Rs 16,676 in rural. Over 6.3 crore Indians are faced with poverty every year due to health costs alone; according to government estimates``

About 8-9% of all Indian households were pushed below the poverty line due to healthcare costs, as per this paper by economists from the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy based on NSO data.

Healthcare costs will continue to rise, and the only way to deal with the impact is by creating awareness about the need for health insurance for all Indian households. Here is a very depressing article from IndiaSpend if you need a nudge.

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