Preparing for medical emergencies of senior citizens

This week we shall focus on preparations children of senior citizens should initiate for meeting medical emergencies of their parents well before they reach their 60s. The inputs have been taken from an article published by Riju Mehta on April 21, 2021 in The Economic Times named ‘How to prepare your senior citizen parents for medical emergencies’. Here it goes:

After your parents cross the age of 60, your concern for them rises in direct proportion to their failing health. More so, if you are in another city and they are on their own. Are they equipped to deal with a medical emergency? What if their condition calls for an expensive surgery or a prolonged hospital stay? As a first step, you need to sit with your parents and discuss their medical and financial preparedness. Find out if they have insurance, and if yes, is it sufficient? If they don’t have insurance, what are the other financing options? Are their medical and insurance documents in order and accessible? Once you have all the information, plug the gaps where necessary. Here is how.

Financial preparedness

a) Buy insurance in 40s: In face of the rising cost of hospitalisation, medical inflation and health problems after 60, the best option for parents is to buy a comprehensive, individual health plan when they are in their 40s as lifestyle diseases and other sundry problems start creeping in after this age. “It is futile to take insurance at 50 or 60 because it becomes very expensive and has many limitations,” says Dinesh Rohira, Founder and CEO, 5nance.

b) How much insurance do they need? If they already have a cover of, say, Rs 3-5 lakh, it should be enhanced after 60. “The financial plan should be bifurcated into two tiers. In the first tier, Rs 3-5 lakh should be available at the click of a button. The second tier should have Rs 20-25 lakh as insurance or liquid assets for higher needs,” adds Rohira.

It is also a good idea to buy a small base plan and tag on a super top-up plan as it is cost-effective. So if they have a Rs 3 lakh base plan, they can buy a Rs 20-25 lakh super top-up plan. “A top-up plan may not be a good idea as the seniors may need to be hospitalised more than once a year, and the base amount will have to come out of their pockets. Without an income, it may not be feasible for them,” says Bhabatosh Mishra, Director, Underwriting, Products & Claims, Max Bupa Health Insurance. A super top-up plan, on the other hand, combines all the claims in a year above the threshold limit.

c) Insurance options after 60: If the parents don’t have insurance at 55-60, they may have limited options. One is for children to include them in the insurance provided by their employers as the premium is highly subsidised. However, not all employers include parents, or they have a high co-pay, or provide a basic and insufficient cover. It is still an option worth considering.

“Another cost-effective option is the insurance offered by some PSU banks like Bank of Baroda and PNB that have allied with insurers and offer highly subsidised covers to account holders,” says Pankaaj Maalde, Mumbai-based financial planner. “There are also some socio-religious groups that offer subsidised community-specific insurance,” he adds.

Then there are various senior citizen plans available in the market that offer covers to those above 55-60 years. “It is not a good option as these come with high copays of up to 50%, offer low covers and have various limitations,” says Mishra.

d) Medical buffer and other options: “For seniors, only health insurance is not a good enough solution,” says Mishra. A feasible option is to have a combination of insurance, contingency fund and assets that can be easily liquidated such as gold. “Having a buffer is a good idea anyway since every medical problem may not require hospitalisation and it also helps in plans that have a high co-pay,” says Maalde.

Be ready for emergencies

Medical emergencies call for other forms of readiness to ensure a quick response.

a) Access to phone numbers: As a first step, your parents should have easy access to important phone numbers, including those of ambulance, doctor, neighbours, children, or anyone who can reach them or ferry them to the hospital. “These numbers should not only be on speed dial, but also pasted in different parts of the house, say, on the fridge or almirah,” says Mishra.

b) Medical reports & insurance documents: All the test reports, whether in physical or digital format, should be available for the doctors. Typically, parents are not digitally savvy, and in case of dementia, they tend to forget, so they prefer physical files. “In files, they should arrange the documents sequentially or chronologically for doctor to access easily. As for insurance, all you need is the policy number or ID and you can save these on the phone as telephone numbers under the head ‘health insurance’,” says Mishra. Children can also save these details on their phones, while the parents can keep a copy of the policy in their wallets too. Children, close relatives or neighbours should also be aware about the location of medical reports and insurance documents in the house.

c) Accessing money: The arrangement that parents have in place to pay medical bills should be communicated to the spouse, children or others likely to come to their aid in an emergency. The location of money, information on fund withdrawal like ATM PIN, credit card details, or reimbursement process should be explained thoroughly as well.

d) Emergency kits: It is a good idea to keep an emergency kit, much like a first-aid box, with medicines and equipment pertaining to the parents’ specific illnesses, handy. It should be placed in a position that is easily accessible for parents or helpers to administer in an emergency.

e) Apps for elderly care: There are a few apps like Arvi and Elder Care (for parents of NRIs) that provide 24x7 care to senior citizens, medical assistance in case of emergencies, doorstep help even in non-emergencies, and medical record access, among other things. It may be a good idea to download these for parents, especially if the children are in other cities.

We hope you have found the article useful. One may contact Porosh for further assistance. Call us at : +91 7439852047

An attendant as a family member

When we look out for an attendant it means by implication that we are in need for one. It is never the other way round. It is quite unlikely for an attendant to knock door-to-door seeking a job. On the contrary, it is we who seek their services for smoothly running our family chores. Naturally, given the nature of work Porosh does, it frequently receives queries from children of senior citizens staying alone for attendants.

Following due diligence, which even includes interviewing an attendant, he/ she is shortlisted and deputed to the residence of a member.

In this context it is important to understand the psyche of an attendant as she leaves behind her family, in remote villages mostly, to be with a member about whom she has no prior knowledge. Her state of mind can be related to that of an employee on the first day of a new job. She feels vulnerable. She keeps on guessing how will she be treated. Whether it will be with disdain, or warmth.

Hence, it is extremely crucial for the member(s) to offer a certain degree of comfort in their dealings with the newly appointed attendant so that she feels at home and thus, gets enthusiasm to perform her duties. Under normal circumstances there is no reason to feel that there will be willful dereliction of duties because such people are usually simpletons and hardworking. All they look forward to is proper meal, adequate rest and decent behavior.

It has been our experience that wherever the above three points have been taken care of they even continue working for five/ six months at a stretch even without seeking any break although they are eligible for breaks for a few days every month.

Porosh and its lockdown preparedness

Since inception Porosh has often displayed grit and character in the face of adversities and who else if not our members bear testimony to these qualities that seem to make us stand-out from the rest. With a 15-day lockdown coming into effect from today (& who knows it may even get extended) we realize that our resilience and team-work will be put to test once again.

It is particularly important for us now to remain alert 24*7 and have multiple options ready to meet emergency situations involving the members who are all senior citizens. The aspect of lockdown that is especially significant is the near absence of public transport. The mobility of our foot soldiers is hamstrung due to near absence of public transport and even Ola/ Uber. Hence, ensuring their mobility is a key factor in the entire scheme of activities for rendering timely service to our vulnerable members.

As a result, we have pressed into service an additional vehicle to ferry our team members to different parts of the city of Kolkata to meet the emergency requirements of our beloved members. After all Porosh owes its very existence to them. By the grace of God, we hope to tide over this situation as well as we did last year.