For Patients, Of Patients, By Patients

When hospital bills rise, inflation is the easiest explanation. Medical equipment costs more. Salaries increase. Infrastructure expands. All of that is true. But it’s incomplete. Hospital bills aren’t rising only  because costs are rising. They’re rising because the way healthcare is priced has changed — quietly, structurally, and almost invisibly. Healthcare pricing has shifted from services to systems Hospitals no longer price only procedures. They price: packages pathways

Hospitals don’t love uninformed patients. They love uninterrupted processes. And patients who don’t ask questions fit neatly into those processes. This isn’t about bad intent or unethical behaviour. It’s about how complex systems reward speed, silence, and compliance — often at the expense of clarity. Healthcare runs on momentum Hospitals are designed to move. Admissions flow into diagnostics. Diagnostics flow into procedures. Procedures flow into billing. Every pause introdu

Most people spend weeks comparing hotels before a vacation.Months of researching schools for their children.Years of planning, investments, and insurance. But when it comes to a hospitalisation that could cost ₹5–10 lakh or more? Most patients choose the first hospital they’re referred to — and walk in blind. That single decision often determines not just the quality of care, but how much money a family quietly loses. If you’re planning a hospitalisation — maternity, orthopae

The term hospital broker  makes people uncomfortable. It sounds transactional. Commercial. Out of place in healthcare. That discomfort exists because most people misunderstand what hospital broking actually is — and what it is not. What hospital broking is not Let’s start there. A hospital broker does not : recommend doctors influence medical decisions interfere with treatment push specific hospitals for commissions sell beds, OPDs, or wellness plans Hospital brokering has no

India didn’t ignore financial intermediation in healthcare. It was built carefully. Insurance brokers. TPAs. Claims managers. Corporate health desks. Entire ecosystems exist to manage risk, pricing, and payouts. Billions of rupees move through these systems every year with precision and negotiation. But there is one conspicuous absence. The patient. Insurance broking solved a specific problem Insurance brokers exist because insurance is complex. Policies differ. Clauses matte

Most patients don’t worry about co-pay. Ten percent sounds manageable. Reasonable. Almost comforting. “If insurance covers 90%, we’ll handle the rest.” That assumption is where the problem begins. Because in hospital billing, 10% rarely behaves like 10%. What co-pay is supposed to mean In theory, co-pay is simple. Insurance covers a fixed percentage of approved costs. The patient pays the remainder. It sounds predictable. Controlled. Transparent. But hospital billing doesn’t