Critical illness is a serious health condition which drains an individual’s lifestyle and requires a lot of financing for its treatment. These huge expenses cannot be fulfilled by the normal health insurances. It can be a tremendous financial burden, because these illnesses require extensive medical care and treatment. Therefore one needs to take critical illness insurance plans to cover these expenses. Critical illness insurance is a type of health insurance, which provides a lump sum amount to the insured if he is diagnosed with critical illnesses like heart attack, stroke, cancer, organ transplants, coronary bypass, major burns, coma etc. These lump sum amounts can be used for the treatment of the medical problem, to make up for loss of income due to fall in the ability to earn or pay off debts. It provides flexibility in that the money paid out can be used as you wish to cover your financial needs.
Why do we need to consider it important?
Many people assume they are fully protected with a standard health insurance plan, but the exorbitant costs of treating life-threatening illnesses are usually more than any plan will cover. Mostly, the reason for critical illness is genetic. You should definitely consider buying a critical illness plan, if you already know your family medical history. Also, for those who are the sole breadwinners of the family. In the event of a big health emergency, such as cancer, heart attack or stroke, critical illness insurance could be the only thing protecting you from financial ruin. Today a Liver transplant can easily range from Rs. 20 to Rs. 40 lakhs, critical illness insurance can relieve your financial worry in these situations. It will pay out cash to help cover those overruns where traditional health insurance may fall short. These policies come at a relatively low cost.
How to choose the right policy?
Here I can explain a few points that can help you to choose the best one.
Best critical illness insurance policy covers most common illnesses such as stroke, cancer, kidney failure, organ transplant, multiple sclerosis, brain tumor, by-pass surgeries, pulmonary hypertension and Paralysis of limbs, terminal illness, disability etc. This is the first thing to look for in any critical illness policy. One may buy a critical illness policy as a standalone cover or as a rider cover. Make sure that you have chosen a high sum insured that can take care of all the expenses and can act as an efficient income replacement during your treatment and recovery. Some insurers offer to waive off the premiums for a while under certain conditions. Do proper research before you buy any policy.
Here, we will look into some of which are as follows.
Max Bupa CritiCare– This policy covers 20 critical illnesses like kidney failure, Coma, Permanent paralysis, Cancer etc. The policy is available with sum assured amount up to Rs 2 crores. For 10lakhs SA, it will offer premium of 2368p.a. for an individual who is 30 years old.
Bajaj Allianz Critical Illness Plan– This critical illness insurance policy covers a total of 10 critical illnesses and offers insurance coverage with the sum assured amount up to Rs 50 lakhs. For 10lakhs SA, it will offer premium of 3540.a. for an individual who is 30 years old.
HDFC Ergo Critical illness plan– You get two options for this- one is the silver and another one is platinum. The amount of the plan ranges between 2 lakhs to 10 lakhs. The silver plan will cover 8 life threatening health illnesses and the platinum plan will cover all that is mentioned in the silver plan along with Alzheimer’s disease, liver disease at its last stage, etc. For 10lakhs SA, it will offer premium of 3500p.a. for an individual who is 30 years old.
Tata AIG Criticare Plan – It covers a total of 11 critical illnesses and offers insurance coverage of assured amount of the sum is 2.50 Lakhs to Rs. 15 Lakhs. For 10lakhs SA, it will offer premium of 6439 p.a. for an individual who is 30 years old.
Star Health Criticare Plus – This policy covers 9 critical illnesses like Cancer, Benign brain tumor, Stroke Organ/Bone Marrow Transplant, kidney failure, Coma, Permanent paralysis etc. The policy is available with an assured amount of the sum is up to Rs 10 lakhs. For 10lakhs SA, it will offer premium of 17228 p.a. for an individual who is 30 years old.
Waiting period is mostly 90 days from policy issuance day. In order to file claim, the policy holder needs to survive for at least 30 days after diagnosis of the critical illness. But a few plans like star health CritiCare Plus offering coverage from day one of diagnosis of the ailment.
The bottom line
As we know the incidences of lifestyle diseases are increasing day by day and the cost of one-time hospitalization for critical illness treatment . It can derail your savings and wipe all your hard-earned money. You cannot predict the uncertainty, but you can buy critical illness insurance to stay protected from financial distress. Medical advancement and resultant healthcare inflation are creating a heavy financial burden on many. Having a critical illness cover can help you and your family to get the best medical treatment without exhausting all your financial assets.
