Critical Illness Mediclaim & Cancer Insurance

CRITICAL ILLNESS MEDICLAIM

Finding the right policy that covers for the things you want to be covered for…..is hard.

Mediclaim most of the times does not always cover the illness pertaining to major organs of our body. However, we feel that we are fully covered under Mediclaim Policy. It’s a wrong notion…. so, it is necessary to take Critical Illness Mediclaim toprotect major organs of our body. Let us understand the different aspects of Critical Illness Mediclaim

What are the main features of Critical Illness Mediclaim?

The Critical Illness Mediclaim covers more than 30 critical illness including, cancer, heart attack, coma, kidney failure, organ transplant etc. It is very much important to opt for Critical Illness Mediclaim as ;such kind of ailment are unpredictable.

Daily Allowance:Critical Illness Mediclaim covers the pre and post hospitalization expenses once it is diagnosed. Sometimes it provides a lumpsum amount also.

Free Look Period:In Critical Illness Mediclaim the free-look period starts from the time you receive the policy document. The insurer must give you a window of 15 days to review the policy documents. If you are not happy, you can return them. After ensuring that you are within the 15-day window, the insurer will subsequently deduct costs for insurance cover for that period, stamp duty charges for issuing a policy bond and costs of medical check-ups, if any, and reimburse the difference.

The Critical Illness Mediclaim sum assured amount should be at least 3 times of your annual income. It can give a maximum coverage in lower premium also.

What are the BENEFITS of Critical Illness Mediclaim?

Taking Critical Illness Mediclaim always ensures financial security for your loved ones. It also reduces the expense burden and provide best treatment in best hospitals.

100% Payoutbenefit is available only if the Policy is in force as on the date of diagnosis of the condition/at the time of accident. In case of Minor, the total payout will be capped at 100% of the Sum Assured. Under the Income Benefit, the Sum Assured must be chosen at inception of the plan.

Second Opinion: Critical Illness Mediclaimalso offersto take second opinion at no extra cost especially in the case of a critical ailment.

Tax benefit: The Critical Illness Mediclaim premium is covered under Income Tax Section of 80D. It can give tax benefit up to Rs. 65000/- on the premium paid.

More Than 30 Illness Covered: Full claim payout on the first diagnosis of 34 Critical Illnesses like cancer, heart attack and kidney failure etc…No hospital bills required.

Top up And Super Top Up: In  top-up or super top-up plan, there is a deductible component and a sum insured component. The deductible amount is a pre-defined amount that the client will bear, through his/her own finances or from the base health insurance or any other income source in order to pay for hospitalization. Any amount over and above this deductible amount  -will be borne by the insurer. Higher the deductible amount, lower is the premium for the top-up or super top-up.This feature is very helpful if the patient is hospitalized multiple times in one year. Top up can be don in your base Policy and most importantly it also covers CORONA ,

PREMIUM CHART:

TAX BENEFITS:

SECTION 80D DEDUCTIONS

SELF AND FAMILY: RS. 25000/-

SELF, FAMILY AND PARENTS: RS. 55000/-

SELF, FAMILY AND SENIOR CITIZEN PARENTS: RS. 60000/-

SELF (SENIOR CITIZEN), FAMILY AND SENIOR CITIZEN PARENTS:

1. 65000/-

How much Critical Illness Mediclaim You should take??

It is very much important to know how much Critical Illness Mediclaim we need. One benchmark is to multiply your annual income by 3

The other benchmark is adding up your monthly expenses such as rental or mortgage payments, car instalments, food, transportation, groceries, medication and home care. Multiply this by the number of years you expect to be laid up due to a serious illness.

How to choose best Critical Illness Mediclaim?

Special Plan: Apart from taking Critical Illness Mediclaim for Self you can also opt for special plan which provide specific critical illness plans for senior citizens and women. This will help you to reduce the expense burden if any senior member of your family is critical and also, they are more prone to.

Renewability and Age: While most Critical Illness Mediclaim plans comes with lifelong renewability, there are insurance company that put a limit to it. So, it would be important to consider the renewability factor as well as the eligibility age to ensure that you are covered if you are alive for a longer period.

What are the Inclusions in Critical Illness Mediclaim?

• Renewal benefit
• Cover for up to 34 critical illnesses
• Lump sum payment in a single transaction
• Cover for critical illnesses for a policy tenure of 1 year
• Option to add Permanent Paralysis of Limbs and Permanent Blindness

What are the Exclusions in Critical Illness Mediclaim?

• Dependent diseases
• Pre-existing condition
• Any injury arising due to a suicide attempt,
• Any illness directly or indirectly caused by nuclear weapons
• No claim is payable if the insured smokes 64 or more cigarettes in a day

Waiting Period:Waiting Period” means the benefits under the Policy shall be payable only if the Insured is first diagnosed as suffering from a defined Critical Illness after 90 days of the commencement of the Policy Period, and the Insured has not previously been Insured continuously and without interruption under the Critical Illness Mediclaim.

Illnesses and Diseases Covered: The number of critical illnesses covered by insurance company may vary. Most insurers cover 20 to 30 major critical illnesses or even more. Some of these are cancer, bypass surgery, heart attack, stroke, kidney failure,major organ transplant and paralysis.

Things to be considered:

• Claim Process
• Selecting the right insurance amount
• Sub Limits
• Don’t hide your health information
• Don’t hide your family health history
• Check the policy papers once you get it
• Communicate to Your Family

By this time, you would have got an idea that how different insurance policies are immensely helpful at different stages of life. So, you must always ensure that you should be properly insured  – not to be under insured or over insured.

We learnt about Critical Illness Mediclaim in which cancer is also covered. However, there is a major difference between Critical Illness Mediclaim and Cancer Insurance Policy. So, let us see a comparison chart and move on to our next Module Cancer Insurance Policy

,CANCER INSURANCE

Cancer tries hard to remain calm, because when they are cornered and angry, they don’t know how to communicate.

Critical Illness Mediclaim covers some types of cancer however as it has coverage for other critical illness also this can restrict the amount for cancer insurance.

So, it is necessary to take Cancer Insurance. The reason, In India in every 1 lac people 300 people are diagnosed with cancer. And believe me to your surprisetherer are more than 100 types of cancer.  Hence it becomes obvious to opt for Cancer Insurance. Till date we have more than 17 crore people who has some or the other cancer

Every year over 12 lac new cancer patients are diagnosed and approximately 8 lac people die of cancer. Cancers of oral cavity and lungs account for over 25% of cancer deaths in males and cancer of breast and oral cavity account for 25% cancers in females

The top 3 Cancer in men: Lip and Oral Cavity, Lungs and Stomach, The top 3 Cancer in Women: Breast, Oral and Lungs

From year 2015 every year there is an increase of 20% cancer patient till the year 2020.

Thus It is extremely important to understand about Cancer Insurance

What are the FEATURES of Cancer Insurance?

Day Careexpenses are covered for the treatment which requires less than 24 hours hospitalization like chemo, radiation etc

Pre-hospitalization expenses refer to the medical cost incurred before the patient gets hospitalized due to the same disease.

Cancer Insurance covers the room rent expenses during the hospitalization period.

Cancer insurance covers the transportation charges pertaining to Ambulance and Air Ambulance. Its important to check the percentage of expenses covered.

Cancer Insurance has a best feature in which sum assured amount is immediately paid once it is diagnosed. The amount can be used as per your requirement.

Expenses incurred on organ harvesting and surgery are admissible under organ donor coverage.

Whenever we take a cancer insurance please ensure that we should take at least Rs. 15 to 20 lacs as minimum coverage as per todays medical expenses

What are the BENEFITS of Cancer Insurance?

In Cancer Insurance Lumpsum pay out and Sum assured amount is paid immediately to the insurer after diagnosis. The insurer has the option using the amount either for monthly expenses, or for the treatment.

In Cancer Insurance the insurance company waive of the future premium for 3 to 5 years depending upon the plan to ease the burden of policy holders

Monthly Income:Under Cancer Insurance, Income benefit option a monthly income equivalent to 1% of applicable Sum Insured would be paid out to you on diagnosis of the listed major cancers for a fixed period of next 5 policy years.

Continued Coverage:Pay zero premium after diagnosis and continue being covered for the entire policy term in Cancer Insurance

Covers Multiple Stages:Cancer Insurance restrict coverage for earlystagecancers to 20-25% of the sum insured. Later-stage cancer claims will be eligible for the entire sum assured minus claim paid out, if any, However, some plans also provide a sum assured of 150% in case of major stage cancer.

Cancer insurance covers the many cancer in early and advance stages: Lung Cancer, Breast Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Stomach Cancer, Prostate Cancer.

PREMIUM CHART:

, TAX BENEFITS:

SECTION 80D DEDUCTIONS

SELF AND FAMILY: RS. 25000/-

SELF, FAMILY AND PARENTS: RS. 55000/-

SELF, FAMILY AND SENIOR CITIZEN PARENTS: RS. 60000/-

SELF (SENIOR CITIZEN), FAMILY AND SENIOR CITIZEN PARENTS:

1. 65000/-

How much Cancer Insurance to Take?

So far as eligibility is concerned, for most cancer-specific policies, the minimum entry age is 18 years and the maximum age is 65 years, while the minimum sum assured allowed is Rs 5 lakh and the maximum Rs 50 lakh. Renewability of the policy after 65 years of age varies from policy to policy.

How to Choose best Cancer Insurance Policy

Coverageof Earlyand Advance Stage: Before taking Cancer Insurance policy check whether it covers all the stages of cancer. It is necessary to cover all stages as the expenses are increasing day by day

Stage Based Payout: It is very important to know that whether the cancer insurance policy covers the stage based pay out depending on the 1^st stage, 2^nd stage, 3^rd stage cancer and so on.

No Medical Examination:Cancer Insurance generally doesn’t require a medical examination. However, the insurance industry operates on trust, which makes complete disclosure necessary

Waiverof Premium Upon Diagnosis: Once cancer is detected the important part is the treatment of that which is supported by the insurance policy. However it is also important to check whether premium can be waived off for a specific period and the coverage continues.

Income Benefitat Major Stage: Cancer Insurance gives a lump sum benefit, i.e., 100 per cent of the sum insured minus Cancer Insurance Sum/early stage claim (if it’s already been paid). In addition, there will be an annual income benefit of 10 per cent of the sum insured payable as income for 5 years.,

2 things are extremely important while choosing a Cancer Insurance your lifestyle and history in the family if any.

Things to Consider:

• Buy a robust sum assured
• Waiting period clause: Initial waiting period and Survival period
• Wider policy term
• Whether your medical history aligns with the plan
• Maximum renewal age
• Don’t hide your health information
• Don’t hide your family health history
• Check the policy papers once you get it
• Communicate to your family