Insuring one’s health with a solid medical insurance policy is an essential aspect of living a financially secure life. To add an extra dose of security, one should also opt for a critical illness insurance policy. These policies, offered by various health insurance providers, assist you financially when an untimely life-threatening illness strikes you or your loved ones. For the best coverage, it is important that you select a policy that meets your needs perfectly. Taking a look at these 4 features can help you in that process.
1. Coverage of an extensive number of diseases, events, and procedures
The biggest indicator of how good any policy is its coverage. Therefore, in a critical illness insurance policy, look out for the number of diseases covered. Ideally, the following is covered:
Illnesses: End-stage lung and liver failure, benign brain tumour, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease (permanent symptoms), cancer (of certain kinds and stages), primary pulmonary hypertension, and so on.
Surgical procedures: Organ transplants (for major organs), open chest CABFG, surgery of the Aorta, human bone marrow transplant, and so on.
Medical events: Coma of specified intensity, permanent paralysis, strokes (permanent symptoms), loss of speech, blindness, deafness, and so on.
2. The survival period decided by the insurance company
The survival period is unique to critical illness insurance and is a crucial feature. It basically refers to the number of days that the insurance provider will wait after you have been diagnosed with a critical illness to process the claim. For instance, let’s suppose that you have been diagnosed with a benign brain tumour on a particular date. The survival period kicks in after that date. So, if the survival period is 90 days, then it will only be after 90 days of the diagnosis of the tumour that your critical illness insurance benefits will be valid. The shorter the survival period, the better.
3. The claim settlement ratio of the insurer
Critical illness insurance can really relieve the financial drain caused by these serious illnesses. Therefore, to ensure that your critical illness insurance claim gets approved, choose an insurer that has a high claim settlement ratio. A high CSR is always better.
4. A high sum insured
A critical illness insurance policy is a benefit-based policy. So, when you are diagnosed with a critical illness, you get a lump sum pay-out from the insurer. This pay-out can be used for any purposes as the policyholder wishes. It can be used to pay for treatment, for travel fare if you are seeking treatment abroad, or to pay your monthly dues. It can also act as an efficient income replacement as the treatment for critical illnesses is often time-consuming and may lead to the patient being unemployed for a long duration. Therefore, the policy you select should have a high sum insured. Medical insurance companies in India even offer sum insured of up to Rs 1 crore.
You can buy a standalone critical illness insurance policy or you can also buy it as an add-on to your regular Mediclaim policy. Either way, remember to look for these 4 features and read the policy wordings before buying the policy.
