Critical Illness Insurance Cover for Self-employed...!

By Mr. Subrahmanyam B, Bharti AXA General Insurance

In an age of cut throat competition, dwindling personal time & rocketing expenses, being prepared for a personal emergency, particularly the health-related one, can be a massive challenge.

Despite a strong inkling and fair understanding of such situations, we seldom plan for such exigencies. The urgency of planning for ourselves continues to elude most of us.

Insurance and health insurance, in particular, is an inexpensive and reliable solution to deal with such unforeseen circumstances. 

The insurance industry today offers enough products to match most health needs of the people as per age, budget and personal requirements.

But it’s important that one picks the right insurance to meet one’s need.

Mr. Subrahmanyam B, Bharti AXA General Insurance

Choosing low insurance is tantamount to no insurance at all.

On the other hand picking something that offers cover that one may not able to use may result in regular payment of huge premiums.

So how does one really pick something that matches budget requirements and provides adequate cover not just for health expenses but also for the financial hit one’s business setup may face.

An understanding of some basic health insurance aspects with a few tips can make the policy selection process fairly simple.

For starters, among health emergencies, critical illness is perhaps the most challenging of situations to deal with. Choosing the right critical illness cover can, therefore, in a lot of cases mean a difference between shutting shop and staying in business.

So, what really does a critical illness cover do?

A critical illness policy offers upfront funds in case a person is detected with a critical illness. All the insured needs to do is provide proof of critical illness and collect the sum. While going in for a critical illness policy, one must consider certain aspects of the policy.

The cover..!

One must scrutinise how much cover is required, which is a relative factor, and what exactly is the amount to be paid for that. One must know the benefits offered, critical areas such as recurring costs, treatment costs, and future financial liabilities or occurrence of an unforeseen adversity like loss of income must be taken care of.

The age-benefit factor must be evaluated before deciding on the cover.

Kind of policy..!

There are two kinds of critical illness policies - a standalone policy and a rider, which can be clubbed with life or / health insurance plans. 

Though the policy clause under both the options would be almost the same, a standalone policy has wider flexibility in choosing the sum insured and larger covers compared to riders.

Illnesses covered..!

One must gauge the list of critical illnesses covered.

With some insurers, one can have coverage on as many as 20 illnesses.

Adequate sum insured..!

It is imperious to consider the average cost of treating major illnesses while evaluating the cover size.

Lump-sum cover..!

Many would be surprised to know that health insurance does not necessarily need to cover medical expenses alone. A lot of health insurance policies offer lump-sum amount in case of a critical illness.

This helps deal not just with medical expenses but also day - to - day expenditure. In case the insured is diagnosed with critical illness he/she is paid twice the amount insured, which can be used as per his / or her discretion to settle medical bills and finance daily expenditure.

One should always analyse the need of the hour and assess the situation that life sometimes has in store for you, especially when you are on your own, regular income is not there to make your life easier and does not have the cushion of company provided health insurance.

Critical illness can attack any of us at any point of time so it’s wise to be ready to combat such disasters.

About the author..!

The author is senior VP (Health and commercial lines) at Bharti AXA General Insurance

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