A lot of people believe they have completely secured themselves by purchasing a standard medical insurance policy. Critical illness insurance gives added protection during medical emergencies like stroke, cancer, heart attack, etc.
However, the expenses of treating critical life-threatening sicknesses are usually higher than any health policy will cover.
Read this article to learn why we need a critical illness policy and whether it’s something you and your family should consider.
- Critical illness policy comes at a comparatively lower cost. However, it is limited to a few predefined sicknesses.
- Since critical illnesses incur higher treatment costs, the policy pays out a lump-sum amount to help in better recovery, whereas ordinary medical policy may fall short.
Critical Illness Insurance – What is it?
Critical illness insurance ensures you receive additional support to manage medical emergencies such as cancer, strokes, or heart attacks. These illnesses often attract medical costs that are larger than usual.
This insurance pays out cash to help cover these emergencies when traditional health insurance falls short. These come at a relatively low cost. However, these only cover a few emergencies or illnesses, which can be a limiting factor.
The average life expectancy worldwide and the probability of experiencing a medical emergency are increasing. These emergencies are often financially draining due to physical factors such as age.
An emergency fund can help support your family by bearing considerable costs during such emergencies. Critical illness insurance plans differ from traditional insurance in that they pay for the expenses not covered by the latter.
The insured sum can be used for non-medical costs such as childcare, transportation, and other related expenses. The coverage limit varies depending on the providers and can go anywhere between a few thousand dollars to $100,000.
The policy pricing can depend on a few factors, such as:
- Amount of Coverage
- Extent of coverage
- Sex of the insured person
- Their age
- Health of the insured
- Family medical hist
Coverage Exceptions
In addition, there can be exceptions to the insurance coverage. For instance, some types of cancer are not covered under this insurance. The insured person may not receive a payout if another incidence of the same illness exists. For example, some insurers may not pay for a second heart attack or stroke.
Another downside is that some insurers may end the coverage when the insured person reaches a certain age. So, just like any other policy or important document, read the policy documents meticulously.
No one likes to worry about finances during an emergency, and the critical illness insurance plan minimizes your worry.
Let’s look at the benefits of this insurance policy to help you make an informed decision about its purchase.
Benefits of Critical Illness Health Insurance Policy
The following are the benefits of critical illness insurance that you should consider when buying one!
Peace of Mind
Having a critical illness insurance policy provides peace of mind. With critical illness insurance, one can focus more on medication rather than working around managing funds for medical and other expenses.
Acts as an Income Replacement
Critical sicknesses impact a person’s physical life and the financial condition of a family. With the lump sum paid by the insurer, critical insurance can be extremely helpful to compensate for household and medical expenses.
Covers Treatment Costs in Foreign Countries
Under this policy, a fixed amount is given to the policyholder on the diagnosis of a critical sickness, irrespective of whether you are opting for the treatment abroad or in India.
Tax Benefits
Under Section 80D of Income Tax, the amount paid by the insurer after or during treatment of any critical illness is exempted from any tax deduction.
Why Should You Buy a Critical Illness Insurance?
Nowadays, more people are getting diagnosed with life-threatening diseases. Even the younger generation is getting diagnosed with the above-mentioned dreadful illnesses.
Therefore, we can’t have a predefined criterion for purchasing a critical illness health insurance policy. However, there are a few circumstances that make it necessary to consider having a critical illness plan:
Family History of Critical Illnesses
In most cases, critical illnesses are genetic. As a proactive step, you must purchase a critical illness policy for a secure tomorrow.
If Your Family is Dependent on You
To ensure that your family doesn’t go through any economic crisis post-diagnosis of a critical illness, it’s necessary to secure your family’s future with a critical illness policy. Moreover, it compensates for the loss in income along with the treatment expenses.
If you think you are vulnerable to life-threatening sicknesses, it’s the right time to purchase critical illness health insurance. However, this doesn’t mean avoiding the individual medical policy.
Ideally, based on your requirements, you should purchase any individual medical policy followed by critical illness insurance as secondary protection.
Wrapping It Up!
Most of us believe that medical insurance is sufficient to satisfy all financial requirements resulting from any disease. However, there are diseases for which the existing medical policy may not be enough. That is why purchasing a critical illness plan is crucial.
Critical Illness Plan by Care Health Insurance covers as many as 32 crucial diseases including Stroke, Cancer, Heart Disease, Paralysis, etc.
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