Why Filipinos need to prioritized and talk more about health and accidents

let's talk about health and accidents



Let’s face it, there’s a lot of surfacing issues with regards to health and accidents and we have no control over our lives. We don’t know when a disease or accident might hit us. We are not certain about anything else in this world, and what’s alarming is the saying ‘Filipinos are one hospitalization away from debt and poverty’.

It’s true tho, we are one accident away from being buried in debt because of many factors. Low income, no savings, no health care insurance, and sometimes leniency.

In this post I’m going to tell you how to avoid accidents may it be in terms of finance or health. Here are some tips or ways to help yourself be prepared for future diseases and accidents.

SETUP AN EMERGENCY FUND
This is a no-bargain tip. You have to have an emergency fund not just for accidents but also for other types of calamities that you will face, take for example the COVID-19 pandemic where we were forced to have a house quarantine. A lot of Filipinos got paralyzed because most of us live in a daily-basis income.

Ideally, an Emergency Fund is an amount of money equal to a 3-6 months’ salary to sustain your need in case you can’t work for a few weeks or months.

But for the record, setting up an Emergency Fund is not easy and you have to acknowledge that. When you decided to set an emergency fund you have to recognize other factors. Start it on your next payout, save 10% of your salary, or even less if you really need it for other stuff.  Payout after payout you’ll see that your savings have grown and the next thing you have to do is to remind yourself is that it’s not for leisure purposes.

You have to establish events and specific emergencies to which you can use the fund. Those specific should be written down, emergencies like hospitalizations, medications, calamities, are valid. What is not valid is fashion emergencies, sales emergencies, and other stuff. You have to go to a formal event but don’t have anything to wear? That’s not an emergency. Learn to prioritize.


GET AN INSURANCE
Not everyone has an insurance and that is just very unfortunate. Recently someone from the family was admitted in a hospital and our hospital bill went up to Php30,000 for a 4-day stay (medicines not included).

Thankfully, my mother is working in government and she have an insurance which reduced our bill to Php15,000~.

Most Filipinos still see that as a huge amount of money but we’re just still so thankful that our bill was almost cut into half.

I cannot stress enough how important insurance is for everyone. There’s a lot of insurance companies out there and you have to be very careful in choosing the type of insurance that you will avail. Always go for a company with a lot of types of insurance to choose from to fit your needs.

You might not know it yet but there’s a lot of different kinds of personal accident insurance that you can choose from. If you can avail of insurance already you may want to check this out.


VISIT YOUR DOCTOR REGULARLY
I am a firm believer of the saying ‘prevention is better than cure’ and to be honest there’s nothing wrong if you‘ll live by that principle.

I think the common misconception of every Filipinos is that regular checkup is a waste of money. I know not everyone can afford a physician visit on a regular basis but it is necessary. As mentioned above, you can get a small amount from your Emergency Fund if you really don’t have spare savings solely for checkups. Personally, I consider health and other related health issues as ‘emergency fund eligible’ because health should always be prioritized.

Earlier I shared with you that a family member was hospitalized recently and, to be honest it could have been avoided if we were successfully encouraged and make her visit her doctor. Imagine, we paid P15,000 when the physician fee for a checkup only costs around 300-500Php and maybe around 2,000Php for lab tests. My point is checkups are not a waste of money, they are prevention.

5 Comments

  1. I agree with all the tips you wrote. May this pandemic open the eyes ng mga tao na YOLO lang. We must always have a backup plan sa mga gantong sitwasyon. I'm glad that I'm oracticing the tips you wrote 😊

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    Replies
    1. Yes, money may not buy us happiness but it can give us security and good health. Keep safe!

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  2. This is true adulthood steps! Thanks for these tips!

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