Understand the coverage
When shopping around for critical illness insurance, keep in mind policies may differ on the illnesses covered, benefit amounts and exclusions. Some policies cover a wide range of illnesses while others might only cover the most common ones like heart attacks, strokes and cancer.
Also, make sure to review what is not covered under your policy. Exclusions can include but are not limited to pre-existing conditions (illnesses you were diagnosed with or received treatment for within a certain period of time), mental disorders (e.g., bipolar disorder) and chronic illnesses that get gradually worse over time (e.g., diabetes).
Critical illness insurance can serve as a supplemental coverage option alongside other health insurance plans you may already have that either don’t offer sufficient coverage in event of an emergency or are too expensive to purchase on their own. For example, you might choose to buy a critical illness policy if there are gaps in your current long-term disability coverage, or if you have life insurance but no medical benefits attached to it.
Do you need critical illness insurance?
You should ask yourself these questions when you’re deciding whether or not to get critical illness insurance:
- What do I currently have coverage for, and what additional coverage do I need?
- What could I do with the money if I experienced a critical illness?
- What are the risks of not getting critical illness insurance?
- Do I have savings that could pay for costs associated with a serious illness or accident?
- Do I have dependents who rely on me financially?
Critical illness insurance can be a good choice if you don’t have group coverage.
If you don’t have group coverage, either because you are self-employed or your employer doesn’t offer it, critical illness insurance can be a good choice.
Critical illness insurance is an individual plan that is typically less expensive than a comparable group plan, but does have its limitations. For example, if you decide to change jobs and move away from an employer offering group benefits, the coverage will end. And there may be restrictions on how much of the benefit will be paid out depending on what treatments were performed and the type of illness you were diagnosed with.
Critical illness insurance plans are easy to get.
Critical illness insurance is widely available! And it’s easy to get.
There are a wide range of illnesses that can be covered by a critical illness insurance policy and most people who apply will be able to get the coverage they want.
This is how much critical illness insurance typically costs.
The cost of a critical illness insurance policy is based on your age and your state of health when you purchase the policy. As such, it’s difficult to pin down exactly how much you can expect to pay for critical illness insurance each month. On average, most people will pay between $20 and $50 per monthfor critical illness coverage.
Most life insurance policies are less expensive than those offered by critical illness insurers. This is because life insurance companies only have to payout benefits in the event of death, allowing them to lower their premiums. Critical illness insurers do not provide many options for getting around high premiums due to poor health or old age, as they must offer benefits regardless of the patient’s condition at the time of diagnosis.
Critical illness insurance costs are tax-deductible under certain circumstances; however, this is not always the case so be sure to check before filing taxes with your accountant!
What is the difference between critical illness and disability insurance?
- *Critical illness insurance pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a specific illness.*
- *Disability insurance is paid out as a monthly payment and kicks in only if you are unable to work for an extended period of time (i.e., more than 90 days).*
- *Critical illness insurance typically costs more than disability insurance.*
In short, critical illness insurance will cover the cost of your medical bills should you be diagnosed with an illness like cancer or heart disease. Disability insurance, on the other hand, will provide some income should you no longer be able to work due to injury or a serious health problem that prevents you from working for several months.
Critical illness insurance can be a very useful addition to your family’s finances. Here are some things to think about before signing with a provider.
Getting critical illness insurance is probably not for everyone. If you are part of a group insurance plan through an employer, you may have coverage for critical illness. If this is the case, it’s worth taking the time to add up what your total coverage for critical illness would be using your various sources. You can also get critical illness insurance if you’re a freelancer or contractor and don’t have an employer-based plan to cover you!
There are different types of critical illness insurance depending on what kind of coverage you’re looking for. You might want to look into getting a personal policy that covers just yourself in case of diagnosis, or one that covers your whole family in case anything happens to them.