Critical illness insurance typically pays out a lump sum to you if you are diagnosed with one of the conditions or major life-threatening illnesses as defined in the insurance policy, such as advanced cancer, severe heart attack, severe stroke, etc. Do note that the benefits are paid only if the illnesses meet the definitions stated in the policy exactly, and only if the illnesses are severe or “critical” enough to qualify as life-threatening. Early-stage critical illness coverage is available only if it is specified in the policy.
If and when you have a critical illness, you would want to get the best possible care - no matter what the costs are. Although you may have hospital insurance, there are expenses associated with a critical illness that your hospital plan may not cover, such as deductibles, co-insurance payments, certain prescription, alternative medicines, advanced medical care overseas or experimental drugs.
In addition, thanks to advances in the medical care, more people than ever are surviving major illnesses. The likelihood of someone surviving a critical illness is actually quite high, but survivors of critical illness may find that they are no longer able to work or may need to have expensive after-care services. The lump sum payout from critical illness insurance can be used to financially support you and your family during this period. As the lump sum payment from critical illness does not depend on your actual medical expenses or even on your admission into hospital, you can decide how best to spend the money!
Typically, the payout from a critical illness insurance will go towards paying for:
The amount of coverage that you would need could vary widely, because the cost of new drug treatments that you may want to access is dependent on the type of critical illness and medical advancements over time.
You should consider getting a critical illness insurance if you have limited savings, worried about high medical expenses or want to have a flexible financial support after being struck by critical illness. The payout is a lump sum amount, which you can decide how best to spend it!
Having dependents or not may not be an important consideration, as the money is primarily for yourself to get the required level of medical care, cover a variety of expenses and provide income if you can't work. Healthcare costs can put a major strain on finances, especially for critical illness, as it often involves major surgery, long-term hospital care, disability or inability to work.
The main benefit of a critical illness policy is to provide a lump-sum benefit upon the diagnosis of a covered critical illness. The renewal of your policy will be guaranteed, although the premium rates may not be guaranteed.
Insurance companies try to ensure that the premium rates on critical illness policies are kept affordable. So it is important to understand that critical illness policies do not:
In addition to the main benefit, there may be a few minor variations that are added to the product:
As a licensed financial adviser, we can provide you with an easy, seamless experience, from purchase to claim. Protecting your loved ones is important, so take the step in getting the right insurance today!
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Yes, because you’ll never know when you might get sick. Besides, you’ll get to lock in lower premiums when you purchase your policy younger. Your premium will increase as your age increases.
Do take note of the sum assured, types of critical illness covered, early vs late stage coverage and whether your policy includes other benefits (e.g. death benefits, total permanent disability benefits etc.).
This depends on your specific situation.
You might want to take into account:
- Your current financial commitments do you have
- How much you will need if you can’t work for 6 months
- How much would your medical treatment or assistance cost
- If you have any dependents that need your financial support
This depends on your age and if you have any medical history. If you are young and healthy, you would most likely not need to go through any medical underwriting.
Do note that you should disclose any existing medical conditionswhen purchasing a new policy.
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