All about Critical Illness Insurance Plans

by Rizwan Khan Professional Interior Designer

As a health insurance holder, you may be protected with a comprehensive policy that covers all general ailments. However, you still may require a critical illness cover to provide you with an additional financial cushioning. Certain critical illnesses require specialized treatment. Considering that your comprehensive health insurance scheme has certain limitations on doctor’s fees, hospitalization charges, etc. you may have to make a part of the expenses from your pocket. Besides, your comprehensive cover may have certain upper caps on intensive care and expenses on medicines. It is necessary to have a critical illness insurance policy, that can keep your finances protected against these expenses.

In general, critical illnesses may include the following:

· Stroke

· Heart attack

· Transplantation of major organs

· Paralysis, among others

However, you should note that most of the insurance companies allow the policyholder to make a claim for critical illness once, after which the policy is terminated.

Things to consider before buying a critical illness policy

In case you are planning to buy a critical illness policy, the following aspects need to be considered:

Survival period

Most of the time, a survival insurance scheme comes with a survival clause extending up to 30 days, although certain health insurance companies may extend it, depending on the type of illness. This indicates, that the insured person must survive for this period after diagnosis of the particular ailment so that the policy can be claimed. You must note, that this is different from the waiting period, that is imposed on the policyholders by most of the insurance companies after they purchase the plan.

Ailments that it covers

When you purchase a critical illness plan, you should consider the illnesses that the policy covers. While some companies have plans that cover around 8 ailments, other schemes may cover as many as 20 ailments. Evidently, you need to research on the health condition of the insurance holder before finalizing your plan.

Inbuilt coverage

Critical illness plans aim to provide a financial buffering against detection of diseases that pose a threat to the life of the policyholders. However, certain insurance companies have designed inbuilt coverages with these policies. These may be in the form of child education benefit, personal accident cover, hospital cash, etc.

Pre-existing ailments

While you need to undergo a waiting period of 48 months or longer for pre-existing diseases with certain insurers, others will not provide any cover for them at all. Therefore, you should be careful while assessing the diseases that are covered in the list of pre-existing diseases while purchasing the policy.

Freelook

You can get a free-look period for a couple of weeks or so with most of the insurance companies so that you can review your decision. In case you think that the plan does not suit your needs, you can get it canceled and refunded.

The medical expenses and costs of treatment are escalating over the years. It is advisable to get a critical illness policy, so that you can remain financially secure against unplanned expenses. Get across to one of the reputed insurance companies and buy the policy that comes within your budget.