Critical illness insurance is medical insurance that pays a lump-sum benefit upon diagnosis of a critical illness or condition. A critical illness insurance payout helps you avoid the financial strain a major illness can create so you can focus on your recovery.
Having Critical Illness Insurance will allow you to focus on your health, because it can take the stress of worry about money away.
Critical illness insurance (CI) was invented by heart surgeon Dr. Marius Barnard, and first introduced in South Africa in 1983. Later, it became available, and very much sought, in several other countries; e.g. in the UK, it has become the most popular kind of insurance product recently. It was first offered to Canadians in 1996.
Critical Illness Insurance is complimentary Life Insurance Polices that offer coverage for various diseases and chronic illnesses. The policies will often offer more in the line of treatment for strokes, cancer, and heart failures.
If a person dies because of critical illness then the person will have the coverage his family requires to provide the patient with an adequate burial.
Whether the insured person recovers from the disease or not (and when) and whether (s) he is able or willing to work in that period or afterwards, have no effect on the paying out of the benefit. Similarly, payment of the benefit is not tied to any other insurance, and there is no restriction on what it is used for.
For many people, a serious illness like these would cause severe financial problems. Critical illness insurance, sometimes known as dread disease insurance, is the kind of cover that helps you cope financially if you were to ever be diagnosed with a serious unbearable illness.
In all critical illness insurance policies, ranges of core disease are common.
- Major organ transplants
- Multiple sclerosis
- Stroke
- Cancer
- Heart bypass surgery
- Heart attack
- Kidney failure
Some policies also comprise Alzheimer's, AIDS or motor neuron disease. Total permanent disability, naturally the result of an accident, is every so often covered and is worth having.
Critical insurance Premiums depend on
- The amount you insure for.
- Occupation. A white-collar worker pays less than a manual worker.
- Age. The older you are, the more you pay
- The number of conditions you resist. Most policy covers against half a dozen conditions and the most sophisticated protects against 30 or so.
- Gender. Women pay more at a younger age since they are more prone to cancer. This differential decreases later in life
As soon as you make a claim on your critical illness policy, your insurer will instigate an extremely thorough check on your medical records. It appears like insurers can go back without a time limit and if they find anything, related to your illness or not, which you've failed to reveal to them, they may choose to refuse your claim.
There is no such search or investigation carried out when you take out the policy and some people feel that this should be addressed.
Furthermore, the policies will cover dementia (commonly known as a form of schizophrenia), and dismemberment. Besides, patients in the need of organ transplants are covered under most Critical Illness Policies. Third degree burns, loss of independent existence, kidney breakdowns, and many other illness are covered by Critical Illness Policies.
While this is only a brief outline of the illness and diseases covered with most Critical Illness Plans, the outline giving should show that the plans often cover more than most health insurance polices.
Most of all Critical Illness Plans compliment Mortgage loans, since if the policyholder becomes ill or else dies as a result of chronic ill then the policy will cover the mortgage, thus relieving spouse and family from debt. Critical Illness Plans will also cover individuals and families that have endured decrease in pay from switching careers.
The polices can also benefit policyholders when they become self-employed. The policies like many other types of insurance are structured to suit various situations.
New babies are another reason to consider your current Critical Illness Plans. Adoptions fall under the same category, therefore you current plan may need updated due to new arrivals.
Find out if your employer offers critical illness insurance as part of your workplace benefits. Increasing numbers do, or in some cases, you can select critical illness insurance from a menu of benefits on offer to staff.
What additional protection do you have if you contract such an illness? Forget for a moment about the company sick pay scheme. What happens if you need expensive adaptations to your home, such a stair lift or new bathroom?
There are two basic kinds of coverage:
- heart attack, stroke and
- life threatening cancer,
The most frequent life threatening conditions and another that may include also a few or more items from the following list:
- motor neuron disease (ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease)
- coma
- loss of speech
- severe burns
- organ transplant (or getting on the waiting list for that)
- major head trauma
- paralysis
- blindness
- deafness
- rheumatoid arthritis
- benign brain tumor
- dismemberment / loss of limbs
- major organ transplant
- Alzheimer's disease
- Parkinson's disease
- occupational HIV infection
- late onset insulin dependent diabetes
- aortic surgery
- heart valve replacement
- loss of independence
- coronary artery bypass surgery
- multiple sclerosis
- kidney failure
For more information on Critical Illness Insurance, visit the website at the URL, http://criticalillnessinsurance.ca/
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