Are festive indulgences quietly raising your hospital bills?

In India, festivals unite families, transform the atmosphere, and define a period of celebration through travel, food, and gift-giving. But while this season strengthens society towards one another, it quietly strains something else in our health and wallets. Over the last decade, healthcare costs in India have risen nearly 12–15% per year, consistently outpacing nearly any other form of inflation. The festive season, with its distractions and festivities that all too often prompt indulgence of some kind, can quickly turn into the trigger that brings all this spending to fruition with unexpected hospital bills.

The hidden costs of celebration

From October to December, hospitals and insurers will routinely note an uptick in claim volume due to health complaints. This is common: an increase in cardiac emergencies, complaints of abdominal pain or gastric upset, complications related to diabetes, and infections of the respiratory system follow soon after each major festival. It is not coincidental; it is how acute changes in lifestyle may result in chronic effects on health.

Traditional sweets, fried or semi-fried savory snacks, and seasonal feasts are a quintessential part of socialising and celebrating in India, most of which are high in sugar and saturated fat, and combined with a few nights of irregular sleep schedules (lots of late nights fueled with alcohol), and long periods of inactivity, these dietary habits can produce a strain on both the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems we rely on for healthy living. For individuals with chronic medical illnesses like hypertension, diabetes, and fatty liver disease, increased stress levels may already have warranted medical management, but our food environment and festivities exacerbate the background stress levels.

What is more concerning is that much of this is preventable! Preventive health check-ups or preventive wellness programs drop significantly during these same festive months, as individuals delay consultations and medications with accommodation to travel and social events. What you end up with are emergencies and preventable hospitalizations that many families will be unaware would even happen until they receive the bill in the future.

When lifestyle inflation meets medical inflation

India's medical costs continue to be among Asia's highest. A routine cardiac procedure in a private hospital today can cost ₹1.5-3 lakh. A week-long admission for diabetes

complications can significantly exceed ₹1 lakh in metro cities. Diagnostic tests, too, from lipid profiles to CT scans, are 25–30% more expensive than three years ago. At the same time, in festive months, there can also be lifestyle inflation. That is more discretionary spending on food, décor, gifts, and travel. Together, health jar and lifestyle inflation create a double whammy of increased costs, and we can define this as health expense creep—the cumulative amount spent on.

The changing nature of healthcare costs

In addition to medical inflation, the distribution of these costs is also changing. In urban India, claims associated with lifestyle are on the rise in the form of medical claims due to triggers from stress, exhaustion, or dietary habits that exacerbate pre-existing conditions. Insurers have also seen an increasing share of outpatient claims related to GI disorders, dehydration, and respiratory infections after festive occasions. These issues stem from air pollution, overconsumption, and a lack of rest.

The overall cost of diagnostics and day-care treatments, which were once thought to be manageable, has also increased largely because of technology adoption and more frequent testing. Preventive coverage and education around awareness are more important now than ever.

The awareness gap

While increased financial literacy, health planning still seems to be an afterthought during festive months, as many families continue to be more concerned about short-term spending than long-term health protection. A recent estimate from the industry indicates that almost 70% of urban households in India remain underinsured, while a large section of young professionals continues to live off the coverage provided by their employer-based plans and have not added personal policies on top of that.

This awareness gap continues beyond insurance. Preventive health care, nutrition counselling, and annual health checkups tend to be at the bottom of the list on most people's festive to-do lists. Ironically, these are the same services that may reduce hospital visits after the festive period.

From reactive to proactive: how consumers can adapt

To lessen the burden on health during the holiday season, consumers must start to think about protecting their health as a part of ongoing, active financial planning. This requires more than just insurance; people must be active participants in health and wellness coverage by not just purchasing a policy, but by participating with it, trying for policies that link to wellness, arranging or taking preventative health checkups before the holidays, tracking nutrition and fitness, and other health-related activities with digital apps and health stores.

All of this can be done through small actions like drinking enough water, not crash dieting after the holidays, and following medication guidelines; all of these things can add up to making a big difference in reducing the impact of indulgence. Families can also think about setting aside a percentage of their holiday or year-end bonuses toward full health coverage or family health checkups.

A more preventive approach to health coverage

From an industry perspective, insurers are increasingly aware of the necessity to shift from reactive claim settlement to preventative care partnerships. Modern health insurance plans are now evolving to include teleconsultations, annual check-ups, fitness incentives, and AI wellness alerts to help individuals identify risk before they become emergencies.

In the long run, these innovations will lead to lower claim ratios, lessen the burden on hospitals, and facilitate healthier behaviour changes in consumers, creating a more sustainable ecosystem for both insurers and policyholders.

The road ahead

While India celebrates, the need of the hour is mindful indulgence, balancing happiness with responsibility. The health insurance industry has a meaningful role to play in helping drive this balance, not necessarily with products, but by creating awareness around the financial consequences of not managing health during festive occasions.

The premise is simple: joyfulness associated with festivities should not come at a financial burden. By combining celebration with self-care and planning, an individual can create happiness that extends far beyond the festival of lights, because true prosperity is not just related to financial wealth; some significant component of that prosperity must include sustained good health.

(The author is Co-founder, Staywell.Health. Views are personal.)