Do you need a critical illness insurance

Do you need a critical illness insurance if you have health insurance?

The answer is yes ! MediClaim or health insurance and a critical illness insurance works differently and has different utility. A few of the differences between MediClaim & Critical Illness insurance are:

• Medical insurance operates on the concept of reimbursement of medical expenses unlike Critical illness insurance cover provides a lump-sum amount on diagnosis of a predefined critical illness.
• On an average MediClaim cover is generally taken for less than 5 lacs which is mostly adequate for normal hospital and surgical treatments. However, the amount generally ends up being grossly insufficient for treatment of critical illnesses.
• Critical illness insurance is cheaper than MediClaim . A limited number of illnesses are covered under Critical Illness insurance and the probability of those illnesses hitting a person is much lower than the general category of illnesses which are covered by MediClaim policies.

Critical illness insurance plans review:

Even though you would want to take a Critical illness cover, at times it is not that easy in India to get this insurance. Not every insurance company provides a critical illness cover and many don’t provide stand alone plan. A few insurance companies will provide a Critical illness cover against just one illness like cancer.

Aegon iCancer and HDFC Life CancerCare provides a cover only against cancer and not other major illnesses. Some insurance companies provide it as a rider in which case you are forced to opt for a term plan.

Edelweiss Tokio Life – CritiCare+ provides cover against 17 critical illnesses like kidney failure, heart disease, cancer, blindness, organ transplant etc. It also provides a multi-claim option where the policy holder can claim thrice on the diagnosis of two more critical illness. The other benefit is that the premium amount gets waived off after the occurrence of the first claim. The plan provides complete security against critical illnesses at a low premium cost. One can opt for a cover as high as Rs 1 crore.

Secure yourself today so that if a critical illness catches you, you can bounce back immediately.