Insurance, as Important as the Rape Issue Is in the Country

By Sourish Sengupta

Edited by Michelle Cherian, Associate Editor, The Indian Economist

Insurance is nothing but transferring the risk, the risk of who will look after your family in your afterlife. You basically, let the possible peril in your life in the hands of the insurance company and keeping in mind the risk factor, the insurance company decides to indemnify you or rather insure you. Of course, you are required to pay premiums as per the plan you have opted for. But it is absolutely a godsend factor for the ones who wish for a secure, soft and a sheltered life.

If a man saves forty percent of his earnings in his entire service life, he will be able to give his family a contented yet a well-appointed life even if the inflation rate goes high. For instance, if a man who is expected to bring home Rs 25,000 on a monthly basis suddenly dies, apart from the emotional alteration that’ll take place within the family, his widow will face a good amount of challenges as far as the monetary base of the household is concerned. Now if the gentleman had have saved forty percent of his earnings, would that help his wife? No, that won’t. The explanation to it is, if his wife uses up all the money which was fixed by her husband, she’ll be able to drag the family unit for a particular period of time. But if he have had invested the forty percent of his earnings in the insurance sector, not only would his wife have received a good lump-sum amount but she would also have his salary secured.

However, there are always two sides to a coin and I’m afraid according to the grapevine, if the coin tossed lands up in a standing show, both the sides are perceptible. In times gone by, have people required insurance to endure? Even more in recent times, when health services were obtainable, people unswervingly paid their doctors and did not rely on insurance to shoulder part or all of the cost. In the opinion of a lot of doctors, health insurance is one of the motivational factors for health care outlay to be so high – it somehow became overblown when the insurance firms made it probable for the hospitals to charge higher fees. Conversely, these haven’t had the negative impact on the health insurance sector. Therefore, in a lay man’s tongue why not grab the mango peeled or unpeeled i.e the insurance company is paying for your health costs in case you require it, so with all respect, what are you to do with the health costs being more or less.

Regular people insure stuff like cars, houses, and maybe even a guitar. Celebrities insure legs, voices, and some belongings you might not wish to scrutinize if you’re a claims adjuster. It is actually pretty amazing that now-a-days people get their nails, mustache, fingers, taste buds, toes and sometimes even their butt; insured. Lloyd’s of London has sold the weirdest insurance policies so far. They have sold policies for vampire bites, werewolf attacks, alien abduction and what not. Four lakh policies have they managed to sell and insure inhabitants against alien abduction. If one is successful in proving it then compensation of one million pounds will be agreed by the insurance company. Insuring your dragon heart stream tattoo isn’t essential, but I believe in a country where one man, who is in charge of looking after his entire family unit, deserves a sense of security, if not a bit of assurance that his family will be taken care of in his afterlife.

The government is making a step towards helping you; the IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority); the governing body for the Indian insurance firms has come into picture. IRDA batted for a hike in the foreign direct investment (FDI) edge to 49 per cent in the insurance sector from the previous 26 per cent.The FDI limit in insurance sector was lifted up to 49% in July 2013. Statistical data suggests that in India, only 21% of the total women’s population is financially secured and outlive their spouses. It is very much essential and vital for all of them to enjoy life’s comfort along with their husbands. In order to do so, Max life has introduced the ‘Spousal retirement plan’. Similarly, insurance firms like LIC, ICICI Prudential, HDFC standard life, SBI life and many more have come up with sweet similar plans be it health insurance, general insurance, travel insurance etc. All we require to do is a bit of research and that’ll happen only after there is awareness, consciousness, wakefulness and more importantly, responsiveness in the society.

Source:

WISER= The Women Institute for a Secure Retirement, 2011 study by Agewell foundation.

Sourish is 19 and is currently pursuing Bachelors in Mass Media (second year) from the University of Mumbai. For acquiring practical knowledge, he has been doing internships all the while. He previously worked at Thinking Hat Corporation (THC) as an intern. The profile included content development & editing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, market research & analysis, proof reading, preparing newsletters/ad briefs/reports & ad copies. He also worked at The Bombay Mothers & Children Welfare Society (The BMCWS) as an intern where his profile included content management. Besides, he also worked at Life away from life (LAFL adventures) as a travel journalist where he was involved with Trip ideation, Writing Travel blogs, Social media marketing/creating ad copies for social media, Travel co-coordination(Adventure trips- all over India), Closing accounts per trip basis, Conducting rekeys, Filming travel documentaries. Apart from this, he is a traveler. Mountaineering, scuba diving & music are his passion.