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Why Critical illness insurance is a must?

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A critical illness insurance policy covers incidental costs that may arise due to any significant disease or disability that may hamper your ability to work or maintain the income flow. In today’s lifestyle and high-pressure jobs, critical illnesses are not limited to aging people only. Many youngsters are being diagnosed with dangerous diseases like cancer, stroke or total or partial paralysis.

Such acute illnesses may prove to be a significant setback to the financial situation of the whole family. If the affected person is the sole breadwinner of the family, the problem further intensifies. It is because the income flow is hampered or stops and along with it, the investments or savings are lost in the treatment expenses of such diseases which are very huge. Things are thus not at all satisfactory even if more people are earning in the family.

For such emergency situations, insurers offer a critical illness insurance cover can be availed either in collaboration with the core health policy of your family or as a separate cover.

The various factors that make this policy necessary for you are as follows:

1. Sudden Liability

A critical illness may sometimes be diagnosed suddenly without you knowing about it. For example, Heart stroke commonly occurs immediately, and it becomes difficult to take precautions against a disease that you may not be aware off. So, these are uncalled for ailments that can burn a hole and eat up all your savings in one go in the absence of a critical illness cover.

2. Lifestyle Problems

Critical illnesses have become more common today in people who are in their earning age (25-55 years). These are because of the lifestyle changes that do not allow you to keep yourself perfectly fit by regular exercise and routine. Life has become increasingly mechanical with the rise in the white-collar jobs and the lack of healthy food items that hamper one’s health significantly without one’s knowledge.

3. Total/Partial Disability Cover

Though the physical disability cover comes as a separate cover to pay for the costs arising out of it, a critical illness plan can cover the costs of such disabilities that may occur to you due to unwelcome accidents. Such incidents are not in one’s hands and some critical illness plans also cover the costs arising out of total or partial deafness, eye defects, etc. The treatment for such ailments can be expensive and may also render the one affected to be home-bound as he may not be able to work. It may also prevent him from working the whole of his life in case the disability is not cured completely.

4. Proofs Not Required

A regular health insurance plan requires you to submit your hospital bills and other such evidence to avail the amount spent for the treatment. However, in a critical illness insurance cover, the whole sum insured can be availed just after the diagnosis of the disease. You do not need to show proofs of hospitalization or treatment expenses to avail the sum insured.

5. Rise in Treatment Expenses

With the hospitals using new equipment to treat patients each year, the treatment costs for all the diseases are quite high. In the case of a critical illness, the person is further rendered home-bound and is unable to work for an extended period. In such situations, it can sometimes become difficult to meet the daily household expenses also if there is no security cover to pay up for the treatment.

Thus, a critical illness insurance plan is feasible to take in such cases.

6. Cost-Effective

A critical illness insurance plan can be availed at a comparatively lower premium than a regular health insurance policy (Individual or Family Floater). It is because a typical health plan covers multiple diseases while a critical illness insurance plan is only for the certain specific conditions.  For instance, a comprehensive health plan for a 30-year-old with a sum insured of Rs. 5 lakh costs around Rs. 6000 a year. A critical illness policy with the same cover costs Rs. 1500 a year.

7. Longer Tenure & Larger Sum Insured

Critical illness covers usually are of a longer tenure. Some insurance companies also offer lifelong renewability option in these covers. Also, the sum insured under these plans is higher than what general insurance companies usually offer.

Thus, it is feasible to avail a Critical Illness Insurance cover either as a comprehensive plan with the general health/life insurance policy or as a separate one.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Important Features to Check Before Buying Critical Illness Insurance

• Cancer Insurance or Critical Illness Cover? Here is How to Choose

• IRDAI’s Guidelines on Standardization of Critical Illness in Health Insurance

• What is the Difference between Critical Illness Rider and Standalone Critical Illness Plan?

• Learn How to Choose Between Disease-Specific and Critical Illness Insurance Plans

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