Health insurance policy is indispensable for every individual keeping in mind the rising medical cost. A medical insurance policy provides coverage against spiraling medical cost in case the insured is hospitalized due to illness, disease or injury but the same medical insurance policy fails to provide any cover if the insured is diagnosed with a life threatening disease unless the policy has a critical illness rider attached to it.
Individuals either have an option to buy a medical insurance policy and attach critical illness rider to it or purchase a critical illness policy separately though former is a much cost effective option. A critical illness rider when attached to your medical insurance policy would increase your premium payment amount but a combination of medical insurance policy with critical illness rider is an ideal health insurance policy and boosts your health insurance cover against any sort of medical emergency.
Unlike medical insurance policy, critical illness is a benefit policy which pays a tax-free lump sum to the insured in case he/she is diagnosed with any of the pre-defined critical illness. Once the health insurance provider pays the sum insured to the policyholder, the policy terminates thereafter. The money paid to the insured can be utilized by him/her in any possible way and the insurance company has no role to play once the payment is made.
A critical illness policy is a long term cover usually taken for a period of 10-20 years. It is advisable to attach a critical illness rider to the medical insurance policy or purchase it separately after 35 years of age or in case there is a history of critical illness in your family.
Critical illness cover is designed to provide coverage against life threatening diseases like cancer, stroke, kidney failure, etc. Being diagnosed with a critical illness without a critical illness policy can result in severe emotional and financial loss. Medical expenses cost involved in treating critical illness can drain your hard earned money in no time leaving you and your family under severe financial crisis. Thus it is always advisable to buy a medical insurance policy and attach critical illness rider to it or purchase a critical illness policy separately.
