Russian Roulette: Why do not we insure life and health
Olga Lukinskaya
A year ago, a twenty-year-old bodybuilder Alexey Imeryakov flew to Barcelona for the Arnold Classic competition. He performed quite successfully (entered the final and took fifth place), but on the eve of his flight home he suddenly went to the hospital - allegedly with poisoning, as he said in his instagram. The next day, in the account of Alexey, a message appeared written by his girlfriend Julia - that the athlete died suddenly. Almost immediately it became clear that he did not have insurance, and his heartbroken relatives had to collect money in social networks to pay for hospitalization and repatriation of the body.
One, in a foreign country and not speaking Spanish, Julia was forced to negotiate with different authorities, from the hospital to the airline, and, for example, to look for a suit of the right size (the bodybuilder had only sports things with her) - all in a state of shock after death of a loved one. The amount that had to be paid to the hospital and the funeral agency was about twenty thousand euros. At the same time, insurance for a weekly trip with a coverage of one million euros costs less than two thousand rubles. We tried to figure out the reasons why people do not insure their health and life, although this would avoid a lot of difficulties.
Most often, insurance simply does not seem to be something important - and when its purchases are not required from you, for example, for a visa, it is easy to forget about it. In addition, people tend to believe that nothing bad can happen to them - especially if it has not happened before. Moreover, the refusal of medical insurance for travel often leads to unpleasant consequences, to put it mildly. In the forum section of travelers, where they discuss options for the “Cuban scam" - who and how they cheated while traveling to Cuba - one of the participants writes: "It is unlikely that someone bred more than I threw myself away by going to Cuba without health insurance. The result: car accident, fracture of both legs, eighteen thousand dollars for treatment. "
Sometimes insurance is just a pity for money, given that the chance to use it is usually small - this also applies to the motor hull insurance ("I will drive carefully, nothing will happen"), and apartment insurance ("why would I flood my neighbors if never this was not "), and to insurance policies for dangerous diseases, including cancer. It is all the more ironic that many people already have the last option for insurance, but they are not aware of this.
As Ilya Fomintsev, executive director of the Cancer Prevention Foundation, says, the oncology insurance market in Russia is now almost completely fraudulent - if not from the point of view of the law, then from the point of view of conscience. Dozens or even hundreds of thousands of insurances were sold, but their owners do not know about it. This happens in many large banks: if in the appendage to open accounts and cards, banks give travel insurance, then when concluding an agreement for a loan, clients quietly “buy” insurance in case of deadly diseases - it is only prescribed in the smallest font, and not discussed out loud or discussed casually. This allows you to slightly increase the price of the service - and the client will not give up insurance if he does not even understand that he is purchasing it.
Insurance market in Russia is now fraudulent - if not from the point of view of the law, then from the point of view of conscience
The most amazing thing is that these insurances are quite working — that is, in case of illness, it can really be used. As a result, there are hundreds of people in the country who are sick, have insurance, but do not know about it, and are forced by hook or by crook to try to get a quota for medical care, while asking for money from paid friends, subscribers or charitable funds. Those who have already taken a loan, it makes sense to carefully examine all the documents and find out whether they include insurance against cancer. Those who are just going to apply to the bank need to remember: documents should not be signed without careful reading, and you can always refuse additional services if you don’t need them.
Moreover, in the case of cancer or an accident, most often you can not rely on services in the clinic where you are monitored by LCA - this is another type of voluntary insurance, which in standard cases does not cover such situations. If the LCA is paid by the employer, then you are likely not to get into the details of the policy. It is necessary to devote a couple of hours to this and decide whether you need additional insurance in case of an accident, stroke or cancer - we will write the instructions on how to choose it correctly.
In addition to the approach "this does not happen to me," the refusal of insurance can be associated with superstitious thoughts in the spirit of "it is worth insuring against cancer - and I will get sick of it." Obviously, both options are equally infantile in terms of refusing to take responsibility and the desire to shift it to fate. True, oncogenic mutations in the cells of the body do not care if you have insurance. Of course, there will be cases when a person got sick with something terrible right after he bought insurance, but such a coincidence can be more likely called successful - so many people get sick and cannot afford treatment.
The desire to evade responsibility can be understood - we are already overwhelmed by the number of decisions made. Until now, the life loop under the Soviet power is also affected - people are used to the fact that most of the issues are solved for them, so they spend every penny, not thinking about retirement, and wait for the state to take care of them. A friend of Alexei Imeryakova was outraged that the Russian consulate was not going to take part in repatriation, except for signing the necessary documents - although, of course, it is simply not part of the consulate’s responsibility for financial assistance to citizens. Perhaps awareness with respect to your own life and unforeseen situations will not hurt anyone - and for starters, you can think about insurance.
Photo: pixelrobot - stock.adobe.com, pioneer111 - stock.adobe.com