Awareness Before You Need It
Over the last few years, the number of families I know personally who have dealt with a cancer diagnosis has gone up. Not always the sixty-year-old with a lifetime of risk factors. It is showing up earlier, in people living what looks like a healthy life.
That is the part that changed how I think about it. This is not a disease you can outrun by eating right and going to the gym. Those things help. They are not insurance against it.
What matters, if it happens, is what your family is dealing with financially at the same time they are dealing with everything else. Treatment cost is one part. Income stopping is another, and that one usually goes unaddressed.
Most health cover responds after hospitalisation, against bills, once things are already serious. Some cancer-specific covers work differently — they pay a fixed amount on diagnosis itself, including at an early stage.
Nothing to do this week. Just know the difference exists before you need it.
Take care of yourselves.
Rahul Karandikar
After two decades in technology, Rahul now works with individuals and families who want to think about money with clarity, patience, and a long-term perspective.