By ritika sharma 
Major illnesses like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc. contribute to a significant number of deaths in India every year. Most of these deaths are due to the lack of treatment and quality health care services. The increase in pollution, lack of nutritious fruits, vegetables, and cereals, and mental or stress-related issues will further enhance the cases of these critical illnesses. Critical Illness Health Insurance Plans in will cover medical expense for you.
Thankfully, insurers have come up with a special insurance scheme called critical illness insurance. You can get coverage for the aforementioned major illnesses. If you have subscribed to this health insurance policy.
These are some things that you should know about a critical illness health insurance plan:
Benefits
The main difference between a critical illness policy and a regular health insurance plan is that the critical illness health insurance policy pays a lump sum amount on being diagnosed with a critical illness. The illness should be mentioned in the list of critical illnesses covered by a specific critical illness policy.
You can utilize the lump sum amount for the payment of hospitalization costs and other expenses. The remaining amount can even be utilized as compensation for the period for which your income was reduced while recovering from the critical illness. The freedom to use the sum insured for any other expenses makes it a profitable health insurance plan for the subscribers.
The diseases covered under this policy change from one policy to another. Therefore, read the policy documents carefully to detect whether the policy offers protection for the diseases that you are seeking benefit for.
Availability
A critical illness health insurance plan is available as a rider on your existing health insurance plan. You may also get a separate critical illness policy for getting the extra sum insured as a lump sum amount. Go for the latter option if there is a history of a particular critical illness in your bloodline.
Lean also: health care services
Exclusions & Inclusion
The diseases that are not mentioned in a specific critical illness health insurance policy will not be covered by it. Also, if you were already suffering from a major illness before buying the health insurance policy, it will not be covered. Also, you need to wait for a specific period before claiming any benefits from a critical illness health insurance plan.
Most of such health insurance plans also don’t cover the treatment or surgery conducted outside India. The illnesses or diseases caused due to AIDS/HIV are also not covered by a critical health insurance policy. Medical conditions caused by smoking, drinking, consuming drugs or other banned substances are also not covered by this health insurance policy.
You must note that critical illness insurance also covers accidents that result in a serious or life-changing injury such as loss of eyesight, limbs, etc. Therefore, you don’t have to opt for accident insurance if you already have a critical illness policy. However, self-inflicted injuries, suicide attempts, injury due to criminal acts, etc. are not covered by this policy.
Income benefit
Some critical illness health care policies also provide a percentage of the coverage amount every month till you recover from a critical illness. Some of the policies offer an income benefit for up to 5 years. The benefit is usually provided for a longer period for the plans that include coverage for cancer.
Should I choose critical illness insurance as a rider or a standalone health insurance plan?
If you choose it as a rider, it will restrict the sum insured that is payable on the diagnosis of critical illness. However, no such restriction is applicable if you get a standalone critical health insurance plan. The premium for the standalone insurance policy would be naturally on the higher side.
If you want to check critical illness health insurance policies offered by various insurance providers. You may check the website of Bajaj Finserv.
The VyVyMangaa.Com