Mr. Paul is the textbook definition of make hay while the sun still shines, this is because of his nature of taking precautions for the unexpected things that might be happening in the near foreseeable future, we all have met a Paul somewhere haven’t we? But wait a minute, Paul wasn’t always like that, you have to believe whoever said that, behind every strong person there is a story that gave them no choice, especially Mr. Paul.
On this case Mr. Paul’s story backdates to the first quarter of 2020, when the city of Wuhan blessed the globe with a curse of Covid, this disease affected each and every industry negatively apart from the hand sanitizer industry and the cotton industry that manufactured the face masks, everyone had to adapt or die, as time would have it we all found ways to cope with Covid, from starting side hustles, doing online jobs, moving to cheaper houses, temporarily quitting alcohol because clubs were closed to facilitate social distancing, what’s the joy of drinking alone anyway? We all just wanted to survive.
At this time all the companies were slashing the employees’ salaries by half or 30% for those who were lucky, except for the hand sanitizer companies, mask manufacturers who seemingly had hit a goldmine at the time. It is at this time that Mr. Paul’s position as marketing director for a leading IT firm in the country was declared redundant. That was some hard pill to swallow considering that he had worked here for almost Seven years in a row, what I did not tell you is that at this time, Paul had a wife and two kids, so his situation could not allow him to cry, what would the kids do if they saw tears forming number eleven on his face! So little to no time, he was out in the streets looking for ways to provide for his young family, it’s not like he had any other choice to begin with, the kids believe that he is Batman and Batman doesn’t go hungry, it’s out of question.
Remember when I first told you that Paul makes hay while it still shines? He had a rainy day account and due to his good saving culture it was that one account you and I would put it as fat. Ever heard of cows don’t graze far from where they have been tethered, Paul was no different, from his savings account he decided to start a marketing agency, he was an old hand at this and still had a lot of contacts in the industry he would have easily made an impact both on the industry and his personal account. He started his own company, but we all know to starting up a company takes up a lot of money so there was need to forego some expenses in order to start this business, for starters he ditched his car and opted to use public transport, besides that his health insurance was also foregone this is because he was always on cover, but it was previously sorted by his employer to cater for him and his family, in hindsight Paul regrets this decision to date, but he is not to be blamed nobody knows what the future holds.
One Thursday Paul’s daughter was continuously crying, all efforts that have in the past calmed her cries, were not working today thus his resolve to seek for a higher power.
Paul did what any parent would do, he took her daughter to hospital because the cries were seemingly not going to stop, he consulted one doctor, who would later refer him to someone else, who referred him to a specialist that then referred him to another specialist in the paediatrician department, here he took a number of tests, from simple to the most complicated ones and after what seemed to be eternity the doctor finally called Paul.
The problem with Paul’s daughter, was what the medics refer to as Ventricular Septal Defect popularly known as a hole in the heart, this meant that a heart surgery was needed since the hole was not going to close itself, the doctor went on to add that it was treatable as long as they both acted on it early, Paul was now trying to understand why all of them kept on referring him to a different person. The Doctor directed him to go and fill the insurance forms at the cash office, but was Paul insured? We both know that he wasn’t, so he said that he will pay in cash, the doctor was shocked! His eyes could not hide it, even a two-year-old could tell that Paul’s statement was a bolt from the blue, he just said okay as he proceeded to give Paul papers to sign for his permission to allow his little daughter to undergo cardiac surgery because other options were not advisable due to the nature of her hearts condition.
Cardiac surgery is expensive wherever you go, this was no exception for Paul, as the days went by his daughter’s hospital bill kept on reaching for the sky levels and after about one month of treatment, Paul had coughed up cash from all his seven openings, by the time his patient was declared fit and can now go home this whole process had costed him an arm and a leg, some of the cash had to be raised by family and friends through a WhatsApp group in order to fully cater for the bill, they had to come through for him because he could not on his own.
Two years later Paul’s daughter is some cute little bundle of joy nobody can even tell that she almost lost her life, she is soon to join grade one.
If there is anything to take home from this story is that you might just be one hospital bill away from bankruptcy, while we can never be able to prevent ourselves from getting sick, let us prevent ourselves from financial implications that come with being sick, get a health insurance, there is always a good deal for everyone however little they will take pennies and still guarantee dollars, life is better when you have both your savings and a healthy family too.
Medical bills are rising at a higher rate than inflation do not be like Paul you will loose all your savings!
