Critical insurance health insurance plan acts as an add-on to your health insurance plan. It provides additional coverage like stroke, heart attack, and cardiac arrest. The policy is beneficial since it allows for a broader range than the usual medical health plan. Furthermore, the payout help to cover those expenses which the traditional insurance plans run out.
Additionally, you can buy this critical illness policy at a low cost. However, there may be cases where the plan only covers limited illness or emergencies. It helps when people drown in the crisis of money caused by stroke treatment or heart attack recovery. Thus some of the diseases it offers assistance for are:
- Organ transplant
- Stroke
- Heart attack
- Coronary bypass
- Cancer
- Paralysis
- Liver disease
- Brain tumour
As the above illness requires extensive treatment and medical care, it is capable of draining your pocket. Thus, if you don’t have an emergency fund like this critical illness insurance plan, you will suffer through a more challenging time.
What is a critical illness policy?
Unlike health insurance policy which provides coverage for only hospitalization expense, critical illness policy offers more. The policy pays a definite amount when diagnosed with any crucial disease as covered by the policy document. Through this policy, you can start your treatment as soon as you find about the condition. Simultaneously, you can also use the amount for other household expense or any additional cost. However, the policy lapse once the insurer pays the amount.
Why is it important?
You need to purchase this plan, or else you can also ask your employer to buy it. By adding this additional plan to your health plan, you can save a lot of money. However, there are other benefits, as well:
- It has an easy claiming procedure with limited documentation.
- Option like additional rider policy.
- There are several options like premium, sum assurance and policy tenure.
- Hassle-free settle policy.
- Provides payout for covering pre-hospitalization expenses for thirty days.
- Tax deduction benefit covered under the income tax act as per section 80(D).
- The lump-sum you get as the claimed amount, you can use it as you want.
- It also assists in treatment carried out in a foreign country. Thus, you get fixed payout amount irrespective of whether you have treated your disease in India or abroad.
Who requires a critical illness plan?
If you do not want to take any risk against acute diseases, then you should consider it. If you are prone to illness because of family history, the plan can be beneficial for you. Furthermore, the policy serves an essential part if you are the only breadwinner of the family.
When you are the only earning person in the family, you cannot afford to hit through a financial crunch due to the disease. These policies are also helpful to those who do not have sufficient saving to back up the hefty treatment charges.
You can opt for critical illness policy easily if you age between 18 to 45 years. However, if you are older than 45 years, it might be difficult for you to get a plan. It will involve many mandatory pre-policy medical check-ups too.
Also, you can add your family member in a single critical illness plan. The family member that you can add includes children, parents, spouse, and siblings. However, you can only avail this option after more than one member is covered under the policy plan.
How much to insure in one take?
While you will be fighting to recover from the disease, you do not want to focus your attention on fund source. You also do not want your family member to worry about where they will collect so much money. So it is essential to cover it with required back up plan. However, there is no hard and fast rule to decide how much you will need at the treatment time. But you can calculate it based on your age, lifestyle and income.
It is a one-time payout system and is generally received after the first diagnosis of the disease and after one month of survival. So it is okay to take coverage of 10 lakh if you are 35 years old. However, you can take a higher range if you belong to a higher category of age group. You can also consider covering more if you are more prone to acute disease because of family disorder.
How do the systems work?
The policy works fundamentally. When you are diagnosed with a particular critical disease, either you or your partner can claim the amount. But remember you should support the proposal for the claim with the required document. This authentic document means you will need the signature of the doctor dealing with the case. Also, if you are treating it from abroad, you will require a signature of the involved doctor.
You can use the amount you receive as claim amount for paying EMI or loan, children’s school fees, etc. You can also use it for paying daily expenses apart from hospitalization expense. Thus, this amount also acts as an income replacement for you.
The bottom line
According to a study, medical treatment bills are a common cause for people to go bankrupt. The more medical science is advancing and benefiting us, the more expensive it is for ordinary people. However, to protect your face, especially when disease runs in your family, critical illness policy is necessary. The procedure alleviates you of the financial crisis and worry, making you sicker.
Though there are some setbacks and stipulation in some specific plan, you will find no risk of future by steering clear of them. If you are a person who wants a safer lot, then you also want to consider protection against loss relating to the maid. For this protection, you can consider domestic helper insurance Singapore.
