Health woes of retired persons

Health is always a matter of worry for the retired persons because, as long as he is in service, he gets various types of free treatment that accrue to him as a matter of right. Everything is hunky-dory as long as he is in service – once he retires, he becomes a non-entity. What then?
In the UK and the USA, healthcare is a responsibility of the government till death but not so in India. Here, it is every man for himself and individual organizations like the railways, the steel plants, and large manufacturing units have their own medical services.
Large private enterprises also have their own medical services and, in cases where the organization does not have any hospital of its own, it links up with other hospitals to extend the necessary facilities.
But, everywhere these are available till he retires – once retired, he has to go in for some of medical insurance that is offered by a host of agencies.

However, in HAL, the authorities had taken a decision to continue to offer its medical services to retired employees – only, it was not totally free but the retirees had to pay some nominal charges for medicines and, also, hospitalization. That was a big relief.
Moreover, it was a pleasant experience as well because when I went for the monthly medical checkup, I would meet old acquaintances and exchange pleasantries. At times, we would sigh at the news of the passing away of someone known to us.
However, in the background, work was going on at the management level to introduce a sort on medical group insurance cover for all employees. And, it has been introduced.
Now, there is no need to go to our hospital. I can get treatment from any registered doctor and submit the claim for reimbursement. There is a fixed amount allocated for regular medicines and also for hospitalization and, in case, the amount exceeds it, the claim is not honored.
It is not a bad scheme – only, due to its introduction, we retired persons have become more isolated because the regular meetings in the hospitals no longer happen. (to be continued...)

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