Tens of thousands run if the child is sick

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Tens of thousands run if the child is sick
Tens of thousands run if the child is sick
Anonim

We received an interesting press release the other day, one of the banks was trying to calculate how much it costs us, the parents, if the child is sick. Since there are many parents and children in the Poronty area (and unfortunately also illness in the summer October), we also calculated how much that is. Anyway, we came to about the same as the announcement.

Medicines and other pharmacy items

If the child is sick, there are first of all the trivial expenses, e.g. medicines and almost medicines prescribed by the pediatrician. Even with a simple snotty cough that does not require antibiotics, we can expect to easily leave several thousand forints at the pharmacy. Last time, for example, I spent HUF 8,000 because I ran out of Nurofen, s alt water nasal spray and even vitamin C at home at the same time. That's what the recommended nasal drops came to mind, and I already paid HUF 7,800.

shutterstock 91371236
shutterstock 91371236

If we don't get away with the same disease as easily as we do, but let's say it gets on the child's ear, like it happened with our friends, the antibiotic will soon come, which, depending on the type of medicine prescribed, can cost up to HUF 3-6-8 thousand maybe.

The miracle cures of the home pharmacy

But the costs of a child's illness are far from over, even if the rest don't immediately come to mind. At least it didn't reach me without the announcement, although it is true that even the home pharmacy's miracle cures, such as honey, tea, broth or freshly squeezed orange-grapefruit-mandarin juice, can be measured in money. It's not free either. Just like the fluffy paper bag and the neogranormon smeared on the red nose.

"In addition to all of this, we tend to forget about the additional costs of the disease, such as the lost wages of a parent caring for a sick child, or the fee of the babysitter next to him," wrote Nóra Horváth Magyary, K&H's communications director.

The Babysitter

True: many people cannot stay at home with a sick child indefinitely and/or entrust the child to the care of grandparents, other relatives or friends for any length of time. This is when paid childcare comes in.

One day of the week with our colleague's children with chicken pox, none of them could stay at home, and the babysitter costs HUF 1,000 per hour, which is perfectly average money compared to Budapest. They are still relatively lucky, because they can manage to only need the childminder for 6 hours, but many families can't make it in 8-10 hours a day, so we can calculate that this is an additional expense of HUF 6-10 thousand per day.

shutterstock 5152459
shutterstock 5152459

This is certainly not typical, but it is terrifying to think that, say, a single parent whose job is not flexible enough to be able to stay at home can spend up to 40-50 thousand in a week on a babysitter.

The missing wage

Then the lost wages. In Hungary at the beginning of 2013, the average monthly gross income was HUF 233,600. If the parent who stays at home with the child manages with this amount of wages, then in the case of an average patient load of one week (five working days), he will lose roughly HUF 10,000 in income.

Costs of an average cold for 5 working days
Medicines 5 thousand HUF
Home pharmacy (broth, fruit, honey, tea) 5 thousand HUF
Loss of wages 10 thousand HUF
Babysitter for 2 days 16 thousand HUF
Total 36 thousand HUF

If the child is hospitalized

Fortunately, the Porontyos team has very little experience with this.

Among everyday diseases, the vomiting-diarrhea virus and high fever diseases most often end in hospital treatment.

“According to the records of the OEP, in 2011 the average nursing time in the country's infant and children's hospitals was 4.5 days. Although the child's hospitalization and care is covered by the OEP, even in this case there may be quite a few additional costs for the parents.

Travel expenses

One of the most significant of these is travel expenses. It can be assumed that the parent wants to visit his sick child every 4 days, and wants to take him home on the fifth day. If the parent lives, say, 20 km from the hospital - which can be said to be very favorable in rural conditions - then with an average 7-liter car, the cost of weekly visits can be reduced to HUF 5,740. To this is added the parking fee, which, taking into account the national average parking fee of HUF 300/hour, burdens the family's budget with at least HUF 1,500 more every five times.

If the parent travels by long-distance bus or train, you can count on a travel cost of approximately HUF 3,700, which of course is per person, so if both parents are traveling, the cost is HUF 7,400.

Parent's hospital stay

If the child is still small and the parent wants to be with him during the hospital stay, the family has to account for additional costs. Although hospitals are in principle obliged to provide a place for the parent of a sick child, in practice - usually due to the lack of space and the limited possibilities of the hospital - this is unfortunately not so easy.

shutterstock 61873981
shutterstock 61873981

If the mother does not want to spend the 4 days sitting on the chair next to the child's bed, she will have to pay a replacement fee in most places. The amount of this usually ranges between HUF 1,200 and HUF 5,000 per night; the price of a four-night hospital stay is therefore between HUF 4,800 and HUF 20,000, depending on the hospital.

Small gifts when you visit

If, in addition to the stay of the mother, the father and the other siblings also want to visit the little patient - as usually happens - then the previous two items, i.e. the travel expenses and the boarding fee, are added together. And, of course, we didn't count on the fact that the visitors try to treat the patient with some surprises - candy, small games, engaging booklets - the costs of which quickly reach several thousand again, Nóra Horváth Magyary calculates.

Costs of hospital stay for 4-5 days
Travel cost+parking fee by car 7200 HUF
Public transport 20 km away 3700 HUF/person
Hospital stay for the mother 4800-20 thousand HUF
Small gifts when you visit 3 thousand HUF
Total Average Approximately 20 thousand HUF

We calculated the average by taking HUF 7,000 for travel expenses (either car or public transport for the two parents), HUF 10,000 for the hospital stay and HUF 3,000 for for gifts.

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