Critical illness insurance is a specific insurance that covers serious and long-term illnesses that require expensive medical treatment. Today most health insurance plans offer critical illness rider cover on payment of extra premium. In return, the policy helps the insured to pay for very expensive hospitalization and treatment costs.
A Critical Illness Insurance policy offers protection against life-threatening critical diseases cancer, renal failure, heart attack, etc. The policy provides with a lump sum amount that can be utilized to cover exorbitant medical expenses for critical illnesses that are covered under the plan.
Importance of Critical Illness Insurance Policy
If we talk about the need for a critical illness policy, you should keep in mind that it holds immense significance. The deskbound lifestyle of the 21st-century is giving birth to various kinds of illnesses and diseases. Most of such illnesses are critical in nature.
Different studies imply a stable rise in the number of people falling victim to critical illnesses. The number of people developing critical illnesses is increasing. On the other hand, the age at which people develop these critical illnesses is constantly decreasing. It basically points out that millennials are prone to developing critical illnesses when compared to the earlier generations.
Who Should Buy Critical Illness Insurance Policy?
The treatment is getting better gradually since the hospitals are spending a great deal on super-speciality equipment. Attributable to this and medical inflation, the cost of treatment is increasing. It’s quite common today for the incurred medical expense to go sky-high when a person is hospitalized.
For instance, for women having breast cancer, Herceptin, which is a drug for breast cancer can cost a bomb. What’s more, the patient needs at least 16 vials while undergoing the treatment. So it’s quite understandable how much a patient needs to spend during the entire treatment.
Hence, opting for the best critical illness plan seems to be a feasible option keeping in mind the treatment costs for critical illnesses.
You need critical illness insurance if you consider yourself to be associated with the below-mentioned categories:
- Having a history of critical illness in the family
- Sole/Primary breadwinner of the family
- People above the age of 40 years
- People who are into high-pressure jobs
Illnesses Covered under a Critical Illness Insurance Policy
In general, critical illness insurance plans cover the following illnesses:
- Heart attack (first time)
- Stroke
- Open heart coronary artery bypass grafting
- Cancer up to the specified stage
- Coma of specified severity
- Kidney failure that requires regular dialysis
- Permanent paralysis of limbs
- Open heart replacement or repair of heart valves
- Major organ transplant
- Deafness
- Major burns
- Motor neuron disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
- Multiple sclerosis
- End-stage liver disease
- Bacterial meningitis
- Bone marrow transplant
- Aplastic anaemia
- Loss of speech
- Fulminant viral hepatitis
- Muscular dystrophy
- End-stage lung disease
Disclaimer: This list is only indicative and not comprehensive. Insurance providers offer coverage for various critical illnesses under different critical illness insurance plans. It’s advisable to go through the policy documents to understand the illnesses covered in details.
Exclusions of Critical Illness Insurance Policy
Critical illness plans generally do not provide any coverage for the following:
- Death or demise of the insured within 30 days of diagnosis of critical illness or surgery
- Any sort of listed critical illness diagnosed within the specified waiting period
- Childbirth or Pregnancy-related critical condition
- Any treatment that outside India
- Any cosmetic surgery
- Critical illness developed due to smoking, tobacco, alcohol or drug intake
- Illness caused/ developed due to war, terrorism, civil war, navy or military operations
- Critical illness/disease due to internal or external congenital disorder
- Any dental care
- HIV/AIDS
- Hormone replacement treatment
- Infertility treatment/ any treatment to assist reproduction
Summing Up
If you had a thorough read of the blog, you should now understand the importance of having a critical illness insurance policy. Meanwhile, you can click here to check out some of the top critical illness insurance policies.
