Critical Illness Insurance

Critical Illness is a Serious Health condition that has a debilitating effect on an Individual’s lifestyle and requires a Considerable of money     towards treatment. It may also lead to loss of Income due to inability to work.

Know how Critical is Critical Illness
    
    The count of serious illnesses is escalating every day. Acute illnesses also mean loss of income, change in lifestyle and permanent     disability. The financial burden could be more severe than what an indemnity health insurance plan would cover. To combat this issue     one needs to get a critical illness insurance which meets your large medical cost as well as provides a lump sum compensation for     meeting your day to day expenses without making you run in a fanatical race for money arrangement.

Who Should Buy Critical Illness Policy?

    There is a good reason to buy critical illness insurance cover, especially for the earning members of the family. According to the data     compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau, 26,426 people in the nation suffering from chronic ailments like AIDS, cancer and     paralysis died in 2013. Also, the World Health Organization has predicted that by 2015 end, 7 lakh people will die due to cancer. With     hospitals investing heavily in super specialty equipments, cost of treatment is only escalating. Once a person is hospitalized, incidental     costs can go sky-high. Take cancer for instance. Herceptin (breast cancer drug) may cost anywhere between Rs 75000/vial and Rs 1     lakh/vial. A patient needs at least 16 vials. Similarly, an angioplasty can cost anywhere between Rs 1 and Rs 3.5 lakh. Getting a best     critical illness plan is only seems to be a viable option. Compare cancer insurance plans & protect yourself from the expensive cost of     cancer treatments.

Critical illness Insurance cover is a good option if-

• You don’t have any savings to help you if you seriously fall ill.
• You don’t have employee benefit packages to cover a period of time off work due to critical illness.

Inclusions in Critical Illness Cover 

Critical illness rider broadly covers following diseases:

• Cancer of Specified Severity
• First heart attack of specified severity
• Open chest CABG
• Open heart replacement or repair of heart valves
• Coma of specified severity
• Kidney failure requiring regular dialysis
• Stroke resulting in permanent symptoms
• Major organ/bone marrow transplant
• Permanent paralysis of limbs
• Motor neuron disease with permanent symptoms
• Multiple sclerosis persisting symptoms
• Aplastic anemia
• Bacterial meningitis
• Loss of speech
• End stage liver disease
• Deafness
• End-stage lung disease
• Fulminant viral hepatitis
• Major burns
• Muscular dystrophy

    This critical illness list is only indicative and not exhaustive in nature. Insurance companies cover a varying number of critical illnesses     under different critical illness insurance policies. The list is also dependent on the critical illness insurance quote. One should carefully     read the policy terms and conditions to see which all illnesses are covered under a particular policy.

Exclusions in Critical Illness Policy 

Your critical illness cover will not insure you against following diseases-

• Critical illnesses diagnosed within first 90 days from the inception of policy
• Death within 30 days of diagnosis of critical illness or surgery
• Illness due to smoking, tobacco, alcohol or drug intake
• Illness occurring due to internal or external congenital disorder
• Critical conditions or consequences due to pregnancy or childbirth, including caesarean
• HIV/AIDS infection
• War, terrorism, civil war, navy or military operations
• Any dental care or cosmetic surgery
• Infertility treatment
• Hormone replacement treatment
• Treatment done outside India
• Treatment to assist reproduction

Advantages of Critical Illness Insurance

    What will happen to you and your family if due to any serious illness you would not be able to make your living? On top of that you will     need to incur medical expenses also. Here comes the critical illness health insurance which will give you lump sum amount if you’re     diagnosed with serious illnesses covered by insurance policy. Apart from this, other benefits offered by critical illness policy are-

• Include cost of care and recuperation aid
• Tax benefits under section 80 D
• Free health checkups

    The policy covers expenses like donor expenses in a transplant surgery which are not covered under normal health insurance policy.