Families often take patients to expensive hospitals due to social pressure, even when they cannot afford it. And after the crisis, the same family is left alone to deal with the burden.
Published Jul 13, 2025 | 9:59 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 15, 2025 | 6:19 AM
Prescribing expensive treatment for financially stressed patients could affect the entire family.
Synopsis: A huge medical bill could push an entire family into poverty, and its effects would show up across every aspect of their life. Meals become smaller, nutrition drops, medications would be skipped, and healthcare would be delayed.
Poverty should be considered a medical condition that affects treatment outcomes, Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, co-author of a study titled “Catastrophic Medical Expenses: A Comorbidity Requiring Multilevel Intervention,” has said.
The study, published in the Kerala Medical Journal, described catastrophic medical expenses as a major threat to health. It explained how huge hospital bills, especially after intensive care or emergency admissions, could push families into debt and poverty. This financial shock could directly affect a patient’s recovery and should be treated as a comorbidity, a condition that makes the main illness harder to treat.
While diseases like diabetes and heart problems are widely recognised as risk factors during treatment, the authors argued that poverty caused by hospital expenses can have similar or even worse effects. Patients often struggle to continue medications, eat well, or return to work after discharge, and their families may be forced to take loans or stop education.
The study noted that a major part of the problem also stemmed from the lack of early planning and personal responsibility, such as ignoring insurance or safety precautions. It brought attention to this cycle, especially in private care settings, where treatment decisions were often made without checking if the patient could afford it.
Speaking to South First, Dr Jayadevan, a senior gastroenterologist and chairman of the IMA Research Cell, said poverty should be recognised as a medical condition affecting treatment outcomes the same way as diabetes or high blood pressure.
“If someone comes with a health issue, doctors usually look at other illnesses like diabetes or hypertension as comorbidities. But poverty works in the same way,” he said.
A huge medical bill could push an entire family into poverty, and its effects would show up across every aspect of their life. Meals become smaller, nutrition drops, medications would be skipped, and healthcare would be delayed.
“It’s like getting a new disease. It influences every step that follows,” he pointed out.
Dr Jayadevan stressed that financial stability has a direct impact on medical decisions. If a doctor prescribed costly treatment for someone already stressed, it might damage the entire family.
“Families often take patients to expensive hospitals due to social pressure, even when they cannot afford it. And after the crisis, the same family is left alone to deal with the burden,” he said. Borrowing money to afford something beyond one’s capacity, especially during health emergencies, typically ends up hurting everyone involved.
He noted that financial protection tools like insurance were still underused in India. “Accident insurance is available for very small amounts, sometimes just a few hundred rupees a year, but most people do not consider it. Young people in good health should still get insurance. The need becomes greater if the person is in his forties,” he said.
Many people avoid insurance, thinking they are safe, but health risks would increase with age, and unexpected expenses could be devastating. Even with insurance, claims were often rejected because of hidden medical histories. For many families, financial ruin does not start with illness alone. It begins with a lack of preparation and the burden of unmanageable medical costs.
Dr Jayadevan highlighted how a single act of negligence or misinformation could nullify insurance claims when families need them the most.
When people leave out or hide their existing conditions, like asthma or high blood pressure, or even smoking and drinking habits, while buying a policy to get cheaper premiums, it would give the company a valid reason to reject future claims.
“When a claim is rejected during a major illness, it could wipe out a family’s savings,” he said.
He added that governments must monitor insurance companies closely to prevent unfair rejections, but at the same time, customers must also take responsibility for what they declare. “If you hide that you smoke or have asthma when buying the policy, and later get lung cancer, the insurance company won’t pay. It’s that simple,” he added.
Speaking about individual responsibility more broadly, he said many of the worst financial outcomes could be avoided by paying attention to everyday choices.
“An accident caused by checking your phone while riding can lead to lifelong injury, income loss, and total collapse of the family’s economy,” he said. Simple safety habits were being ignored by many, resulting in not just medical suffering but long-term financial damage.
“We often blame others, but the first step is to take personal responsibility,” he added.
Dr Jayadevan emphasised that financial education must begin long before illness strikes. “Financial counselling should happen before someone becomes ill. Once the person is in the hospital, it is already too late,” he said. “By the time someone needs financial counseling in a hospital bed, the damage is already done.”
He said children must be taught about health insurance, accident insurance, and life coverage at the school level, since those have become essential life skills. “Basic health finance, insurance literacy, safety habits, and emergency planning should be as fundamental as reading and math,” he added.
Without this knowledge, many families ended up unprepared and suffered avoidable consequences later. “Recognising poverty as a medical risk is the first step toward protecting families from both illness and the financial ruin that often follows,” he said.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
