Heat of Health, Beat of Hospital

Be wise if you wish to be healthy, advises Nagesh Alai

We all have grown up hearing the simple homily of early to bed and early to rise making us healthy, wealthy and wise, clearly a common sensical experiential learning handed down the generations by word of mouth. All it requires is a daily discipline of sound sleep and physical activity, efficient time management and harnessing of resources and opportunities to attain one’s goal in life, develop good consistent habits and sharp focus to enable discerning decisions and judgment. When followed in letter and spirit, these bring about a mindful living leading to satisfying outcomes and tranquillity of body, mind and intellect. When the body, mind and intellect are in a state of unison, it leads to an appreciation of the self in the context of the universe and a better understanding of the indescribable cosmic forces that hold us and the world together in all its glory.

Humans that we are, we come with our own foibles and weaknesses which work against the above principles resulting in a sub optimal realisation of our intrinsic potential and a yawning distance away from being fully healthy, wealthy and wise. Quite clearly, many of us, if not most of us, do not or perhaps cannot live up to our full potential, conveniently attributing it to causes beyond our control and in the bargain losing out on effects that were meant to be beneficial to us.

Each of the three elements of health, wealth and wisdom, all of which are equally important for a meaningful life, have a role to play in our ability or inability to face the moments of truths and realities of situations as we traverse life.

A family member had to be rushed to an ICU in a nearby hospital recently owing to behavioural incoherence and pathological imbalances. What was meant to be a one-day precautionary medical observation and early discharge, turned out to be somewhat extended due to multiple blood tests, MRI, DSA and a whole lot of other expensive tests and medications, revealing an aneurysm in the blood vessels to the brain. Now, that was a fright for sure, given that the person leads a successful professional life with all its daily challenges and pressures, while ignoring the discipline of daily exercises and compromising on health. Nature has its way of sending signals to every person and this could well be its calling card to force some tempered living. The trauma of rustling up advance deposits and paying bloated bills is another story altogether. I have always believed that we can expect no quarters in life, least of all hospitals who, while claiming to be charitable or reasonable, are actually extremely commercial and cut-throat. They would not be bothered about your patient or treatment unless you cough up monies in advance. 

The experience of a visit to hospital and admission of a patient could be overwhelming and traumatic to the most seasoned, as it was to me and a few others as we handled our family member’s health downturn. While every person will have his or her own experiences to recount, it will be worthwhile to look at the following watchlist which could come in handy when faced with similar situations.

1. A dependable set of people, family or friends, around you are a sine-qua-non. You can do very little without their active help and care. Establish a system of keeping your contact list updated and shared with people close to you. This is crucial in the case of emergencies. At a practical and real level, no hospital will undertake any tests or embark on any medical intervention unless someone signs off and gives consent on your behalf in advance. 
2. Keep your health records updated and accessible. This will help determine an appropriate course of medical action.
3. In times of emergencies, your finances should be known and accessible to a trusted few to fund admission and treatment. 
4. The only back-up for this could be a willing family or friend to pay the hospital at the moment of admission. In the case of the family members that I alluded to, two family members willingly volunteered to pay the advance deposits to the hospital.
5. Having a medical insurance is recommended and could come in handy at such times. However, a practical hurdle here is getting a quick cash-less admission into the hospital, especially important during emergencies. It could turn out to be a procedural nightmare with most hospitals putting you through bureaucratic red-tape causing loss of valuable time. You may be left with no option but to pay up in advance and claim health insurance later.
6. TPA ( Third Party Associates ), who are supposed to be enablers and partners of health insurance companies and work in tandem with the hospitals to ensure immediate monetary support to the insured in moments of stress, more often than not do exactly the opposite. One needs to read the fine print in the health insurance policy, especially exclusion and dos and don’ts, to fully understand it and what could be potential bottle necks. Cases of health insurance companies turning down insurance claims and putting them into years of loops are legendary. All insurance companies are culpable in this. The government and the courts are slowly waking up to this cruelty and trying to mend the situation to enable seamless financial support for the insured.

7. At the least, three to four people will be needed to take turns to be with the patient at the hospital. This is indispensable. It will help in lessening the tensions of a hospital stay and will also be a huge moral support. The care givers, as much as the patient, need a respite.

8. Let one person be the central point of contact for information and updates transmission to family and friends. This will help avoid wastage of valuable time in multiple responses to multiple enquiries from well-meaning well-wishers. 

9. While being empathetic, crowding of family and friends and multiple visits should be a no-no. The patient will get stressed and recovery will slow down. 

10. When in doubt about any medical procedures, take a second opinion. It’s a must to have some certitude about the outcomes of the treatment.

11. Don’t feel shy asking the hospital about the break-up of costs and rationale of the charge. Get a sense of the estimated treatment costs in advance. Do not assume that hospitals will not make mistakes or not charge you more. A patient is merely a revenue unit for them. Heard of ARPUs in mobile companies? It is the same with hospitals. They are budget and revenue driven. Keeping a close watch on the billing is a must. After all, we are paying for it.

12. While no one will admit it openly, when the hospitals ask if you have health insurance, it could be a ruse to charge you more and run up bills. This will eventually lead to being out-of-pocket beyond the health insurance policy pay-outs. Be circumspect. 

13. Ensure proper record keeping to ensure claims – doctors’ opinions, causative factors, test reports, medicines, treatment details etc. These are necessary to claim the money from the health insurance companies and go legal, if need be.

14. Follow the recommended post-operative post-discharge care and caution. It is in the patient’s interest.

15.  Finally, keep the faith in yourself and the cosmos to heal.

Be wise if you wish to be healthy; wealth of well-wishers, more than money, will be your ultimate support in life. Stay healthy, wealthy and wise!