Kidney Disease And Its Financial Implications

A 54‐year‐old Indian tricycle rickshaw puller, the sole breadwinner of a family of five, was diagnosed with hypertension during routine evaluation for easy fatigability. On further investigations, he was found to have anaemia and bilateral shrunken kidneys. The patient was advised long‐term dialysis or transplantation, for which neither the patient nor the relatives were willing to proceed because of economic constraints, and got the patient discharged against medical advice. This situation clearly epitomises the situation of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in India.*

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) or kidney damage, in short, has serious financial implications, especially for those who do not have the financial resources to deal with it. There is no permanent cure for it and the patient has to be on dialysis for the rest of his life. This means continuous visits to the hospital, depending on the intensity of the disease. Each visit to the hospital would cost anywhere between Rs.1500-2000 depending on the hospital. 8 such visits in a month would put you back by around Rs.15000-16000 a month. This would have to be sponsored through the savings as this is not covered in mediclaim due to the fact that the patient does not require to be hospitalised.

Lack Of Income

A person who is sustaining on dialysis, most probably, would have to withdraw himself from any kind of productive and financially engaging activity. This is because of the weakness associated with CKD and the fact that he would need to take regular leaves from work for getting the dialysis done. This would mean that he would not be able to bring any income into the household. Thus, this disease causes two-fold damage to the family. On one side, expenses increase due to the dialysis and medicines and on the other hand, the person cannot bring any income to the family.

A Critical Illness Plan

The best way to tackle the probability of contracting CKD would be to buy a critical illness plan when you are healthy. A critical illness plan like Edelweiss Tokio Life CritiCare+ gives you a lump sum on the occurrence of a critical illness like kidney damage requiring regular dialysis. With this lumpsum amount, you can take care of the dialysis costs as well as make payments for your home loan EMI’s, children’s school fees, society maintenance and every other expense that you may incur.

Generate a quote today for a critical illness insurance plan and stay protected against the financial implications of kidney disease.

*http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2660492/