Critical Illness Rider A Critical Overview

If you are lucky, you wouldn't have ever had to use the critical illness insurance, and you may have never heard about it either. However, many people end up assuming that they are completely protected with a standard life insurance plan. On the contrary, the costs involved in treating critical illnesses are usually more than any plan will cover. In the event of a big health emergency such as heart attack, cancer or stroke, life insurance with critical illness cover is the only thing that can protect you from financial ruin.

What is Critical Insurance Rider?

A critical illness rider is an additional feature that can be bought with your life insurance policy in order to increase the scope of coverage. This rider covers the policyholder against the diagnosis of any critical illness by paying the sum assured. Once this payout is made, the critical illness rider is terminated whereas, the life cover under the base policy and any other riders continue.

Each insurance providers cover a different range of illnesses under life insurance with critical illness cover. However, typically they cover cancer, first heart attack, stroke, etc.

Why Do You Need Life Insurance With Critical Illness Cover?

Below mentioned are the reasons why a critical illness cover is good for your life insurance:

It Provides Cover For Hospitalization And Other Costs

For instance, the breadwinner of the family has been diagnosed with a critical illness and can not go for work, this might cause a financial burden on the family. This rider helps in providing a payout that can be used to cover the costs involved in the treatment of any such illness.

Rising Lifestyle Disorders

Lifestyle disorders such as cancer, heart diseases, and diabetes are affecting a lot of people today. Such conditions have been prevailing due to the lack of physical activity. Kids spend a lot of time in front of electronic devices, and there is also a rise in the consumption of unhealthy food. The cost of health is increasing because of such diseases. On top of this, some of these diseases require a lifelong treatment that can end up being costly. Therefore, having life insurance with critical illness cover would come out to be very beneficial in situations like these as it will help in saving you a lot of financial trouble.

Critical Illness Among The Youth

The youth these days considers itself to be in the best of health and which is why they end up delaying in opting for critical illness. Due to the long hours at work and the stress, the young population has a higher risk of suffering from critical illness diseases. Therefore, these reasons make it even more important to include this rider in your life insurance policy.

Important Things To Consider While Buying Life Insurance With Critical Illness Cover

Pre-existing Diseases

Some plans in the market cover your pre-existing diseases after a certain waiting period, whereas, the others do not cover them at all. Therefore, it is important to conduct deep research on what all the policy you are opting for covers under the clause for pre-existing diseases.

Total Critical Ailments

The critical ailments covered under your life insurance with critical illness cover is one of the most important things to consider before opting for any policy. Thorough research regarding the same is required before deciding on any policy.

Free-look Period

Many insurance companies provide a free-look period. In this period, you can review your decision. If you do not find your needs being fulfilled with your plan, you can put in a request for cancellation and refund. 

Built-in Coverage

While this rider aims at providing a financial cover against many of the life-threatening diseases, there are many providers that also offer built-in coverage.

Survival Period

Mostly, life insurance with critical illness cover comes with a fixed survival period. While some providers may extend it, depending on the illness. This is the period the policyholder needs to survive after the diagnosis in order to claim the policy.

Alternatives to Critical Illness Cover

There are a few alternative forms of coverage without many of the restrictions that come with a critical illness cover. For instance, disability cover provides you income when you cannot work for medical reasons that extend beyond a narrow list of illnesses. This is an ideal option for someone whose livelihood would be greatly affected due to long work absence.

Building a savings account is also a good option to additionally cover non-medical outlays that could arise if you have any critical disease.

The Bottom Line

Since heavy medical bills can cause a great financial burden on you and your loved ones’ shoulders, it is important to protect yourself against any uncertainty that life may bring. Life insurance with critical illness cover provides protection against the financial burden when you are too ill to work. It also provides flexibility when it comes to the usage of the sum assured. However, there are certain drawbacks linked to this cover and should be thoroughly considered before adding this rider to your life insurance policy.