Existing medical conditions and critical illness today are aggravated by high-stress environments and demanding lifestyles across all income brackets. With inflation growing at an exponential rate, the cost of living and medical expenses to maintain one’s health and well-being is an anxiety most working people navigate on a daily basis. These anxieties can be mitigated however, through tools and plans provided by insurance providers who strive towards protecting potential policyholders from emotional and financial distress at the time of their diagnosis or treatment.
Life insurance plans are one of the ways to achieve that security, where a person is able to ensure the protection of those dependent them; by choosing to insure themselves in the event of their death or illness. Life insurance plans can be defined as an insurance instruments which enable the coverage of the needs of the insured and their dependents through an assured benefit sum in the event of the policyholder’s demise.
There are several combinations and types of life insurance policies available for a policyholder to choose from in the insurance market today. Across insurance providers, the best life insurance plans are those that offer ample customizations and also can be tailored to one’s requirements. A way to achieve that, is through riders that can be added to an existing plan for additional situations that may not be covered under a standard plan.
Insurance plans offer additional riders and benefits that can help policyholders prepare for situations that are not limited to death. One can add riders for Income, Waived Premiums, Disability, Accidental Death or even Critical Illness in their existing insurance plan. The cost of these riders added to the basal premium cost, hence one should choose after adequate deliberation.
The Critical Illness rider is one of the most frequently added riders that policyholders choose to add to their plans. Critical illness can be defined as medical conditions which prolonged sickness in a person where the condition if not rectified through invasive procedures, may worsen drastically and may turn fatal.
Since the nature of critical illness is its unpredictability and rapid deterioration, most policyholders want to stay prepared in the likelihood of the insured becoming incapacitated or diagnosed in these situations. These riders can be helpful in the event of illness to provide complete and comprehensive cover with the existing benefits of a standard health insurance plans.
Since the nature of critical illness and its unpredictability can be stressful to manage, let us look at why you must invest in a critical illness rider before purchasing an insurance plan:
- Complete Coverage: Different from a mediclaim or standard health insurance, a critical illness rider aids a person with their medical expenses when they suffer from one of the illnesses listed under critical illness and require treatment for the same. The insurance providers can process a lump sum payment to the policyholder to help them cover treatment, surgery and recovery expenses along with covering for any loans that may have to be maintained while the policyholder is unable to do so.
- Illnesses Covered: Mostly, critical illness insurance rider covers anywhere between 8 to 30 critical illnesses which are listed by insurance provider at the time of purchasing the same. Most common types of critical illness can be Cancer, Heart Disease, Kidney Failure, Strokes, Paralysis, motor neuron diseases, lung disease and more.
The costs incurred in the course of treating these illnesses are usually high, without adding hospitalisation costs that the insured may have to be fulfilling from their savings fund at the time of admitting.
- Manage Medical Costs: The most detrimental aspect of a critical illness is the emotional and financial stress that the dependents of the insured undergo, who have to manage regular household and financial expense alongside the high costs of an on-going critical illness treatment. Due to the inflation of hospital rates, drug costs and treatments costs; it is imperative for people to invest in a critical illness cover as it eases all of these expenses while supporting the dependents as well.
- Financial Support: Since illness can render a person bedridden and unable to earn an income to support their household expenses such as bills, loans, and childcare; a critical illness insurance can pay a part of the lump sum to the insured as an income replacement.
- Prompt Claim Process: Claims for critical illness insurance is promptly processed compared to other health insurance claims as these conditions are usually prone to rapid deterioration and needed to be treated and stabilized immediately.
A standard life insurance policy in India is considered to be one of the most affordable means of securing one’s future where premiums are low and one can customise their coverage and payout methods as per their convenience.
However, treatments and procedures driven towards curing a person while they suffer from a critical illness can be an emotionally and financially stressful time for the insured and their family. It can cause one to lose essential savings and funds while having to compromise on long-term goals. Max Life Insurance has critical illness insurance riders that one can look though and add to plans while purchasing in order to mitigate anxieties caused by these uncertainties and secure one’s future in just a few steps.
