Unexpected illness can hamper anyone’s health and lifestyle. To be prepared for such unexpected situations and to save your money from getting drained in treating long-term medical illnesses all by yourself, it is good to invest in critical illness insurance. It is a fixed benefit plan in which you can get the full sum insured regardless of whether you are hospitalized or not and what the treatment cost really was.
However, many assume that life insurance and disability insurance provide all the coverage you need. Having a lump sum payment as part of your cover from the insurance company when you are sick and lying on bed due to heart stroke, cancer, and other wide variety of conditions can help you provide a security to your family in a tough situation.
The purpose of buying a critical illness plan is to cover you from the expensive treatment. Plus it is a lot cheaper than the regular indemnity plan that covers a wide array of risks but is a bit costly too than the critical illness cover. Experts believe that you can also combine a general health insurance with critical illness cover to get the appropriate coverage at a decent pricing.
Moreover, the number of diseases covered in a basic critical illness plan differs widely as some insurance companies cover for unplanned death or partial/total disability cause in an event of accidents while some don’t. Here are some points that must be considered while buying a critical illness policy.
Choosing the right policy: You should access and compare a few policies to decide which one would suit you the best. Consider what all illnesses are covered under the policy, the amount of coverage, insurer’s payment history, the claim plans, and also the loopholes. The best way to determine how much insurance cover you need is to ask the company what all benefits they are offering. Once you know the benefits, you will easily know how much coverage you require. You must also keep in mind the factors such as recurring costs, treatment cost, and future financial responsibilities in case you quit or lose your job. Medical history and age are other important factors that are to be considered while deciding the sum insured. Remember the sum insured for the aged person would be higher than the one who is younger – as aged people are more likely to develop incurable diseases than others.
Standalone or Rider Insurance: Critical illness insurance policy can be bought either as a standalone policy or by clubbing it with other health insurance as a rider. The terms and conditions of the policy under both the circumstances are almost the same. In fact, it is solely your choice to choose one as per your requirement. Generally, a standalone policy offers you more flexibility in deciding the sum insured and the larger cover as compared to riders. There will be a specific difference in the price as well. A standalone policy will be more expensive as it will give you the privilege of choosing the high sum insured. The advantage of stand-alone policy is that you need not have to renew your health insurance or the life insurance cover if you wish to carry on with the critical illness cover.
Investing in a special plan: Many insurance companies offer special critical illness insurance policy for women and elderly people and provide cover for their unique needs such as breast cancer, cervical cancer, etc. Though these plans cost lot but these are true value for money too.
You can also customize your plan as per your requirement. For this, you can seek the help of an independent representative who has access to numerous carriers and options that are currently available. Being cognizant that these policies exist, how they work and exploring other options may be worth your time.