You Can Replace A Car, Not Your Health! Why It’s Time To Insure What Truly Matters
Here's the uncomfortable truth: in India, barely half of all vehicles carry insurance, and fewer than half of households have any health coverage.
By Sanjiv Bajaj
He had just bought his first car, a shiny silver sedan he'd been dreaming about for years. Within hours, he'd signed up for comprehensive motor insurance. No hesitation. No second thoughts. Yet at 34, he had been putting off health insurance for himself and his family for over three years. "I'll do it next month," he kept telling his wife. "We're young. We're healthy. What's the rush?"
Here's the uncomfortable truth: in India, barely half of all vehicles carry insurance, and fewer than half of households have any health coverage. But here's what's truly revealing: when people do buy insurance, they'll get their car covered in a heartbeat but delay health insurance indefinitely.
This isn't really about money. It's about how our minds work.
What's Really Going On Inside Our Heads
When he bought that car insurance, he wasn't being logical. He was responding to three powerful psychological forces that shape our financial decisions.
- The Power of "No Choice": Motor insurance is required by law. There's no debate, no "let me think about it." You just do it. Health insurance? That's optional. And ironically, that freedom becomes our trap. Because it's not urgent, we tell ourselves we'll handle it later. That month somehow never arrives.
- We Protect What We Can See: Our brains are wired to protect tangible things. Your car sits in the driveway where you see it every day. You can easily imagine a dent, a theft, a scratch. That fear of losing something right in front of you pushes you to act. But your health? It's invisible. Abstract. When you feel fine, it's almost impossible to imagine being sick. Paying premiums feels like money disappearing rather than protection you're building.
- The "It Won't Happen to Me" Trap: We're all optimists at heart. "I'm healthy. I'll be fine." But the numbers tell a different story. Medical inflation in India runs around 14 per cent among the highest in Asia. Nearly half of all healthcare costs come straight out of people's pockets. One unexpected hospitalization can wipe out years of savings. But our optimism whispers that insurance can wait.
When Reality Hits
For him, the wake-up call came during a routine checkup. His father was diagnosed with diabetes and needed immediate hospitalization. The bill: Rs 3.2 lakhs over two weeks.
The family scrambled, breaking fixed deposits earmarked for their daughter's education, borrowing from relatives, juggling credit cards. The financial stress was nothing compared to watching his father worry about being a burden. That evening, he finally bought health insurance. But the policy came with a waiting period. Had he bought it months earlier when everyone was healthy they would have been covered when it mattered most.
Like so many of us, he learned that knowing you should do something isn't the same as actually doing it. That gap between awareness and action is where families become vulnerable.
A Different Way Forward
Understanding these mental patterns doesn't mean we're foolish. It means we're human. The trick isn't to fight against how our minds work, it's to design around them.
Treat health insurance exactly like car insurance as non-negotiable. Make it automatic. Build it into your monthly expenses. Once it's just "something you do" rather than "something you need to decide about," the mental resistance melts away. Right now, only 4 out of 10 Indian households have health coverage. Behind that statistic are millions of families who are one medical emergency away from crisis.
Think about it: we rush to protect things that lose value the moment we buy them, but we delay protecting the one thing that makes everything else possible our health, our ability to earn, to care for our families, to pursue our dreams.
You can repair a car. You can buy a new one. But your health? That's irreplaceable.
What This Really Means
Real financial wisdom isn't measured by how much wealth you accumulate. It's measured by how well you protect what matters. Insurance isn't just another policy document. It's a promise to your family. It's choosing responsibility over procrastination.
The best time to buy health insurance was last year. The second-best time is today.
Protect what truly matters while you still can.
(The author is Joint Chairman and Managing Director, BajajCapital Ltd)
[Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.]
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