More people are becoming the victim of non-communicable diseases. Lifestyle diseases such as hypertension and diabetes are taking a toll on human lives, becoming alarming nowadays. With the rising burden of the mass conditions, the other thing that goes together is the medical costs. Since the illness probability increases, healthcare costs are touching the roof, resulting in a financial crisis.
For combating this, health insurance is a must. But do you think buying a regular plan would suffice and cover some non-communicable diseases like cancer? Comprehensive health insurance plans could be the solution to solve your medical emergencies, but not critical illnesses. This is where necessary illness health insurance enters the picture. Many assume that health insurance and critical illness plans are the same. It is not. Let us see how they are different:
Coverages offered
The coverages offered by both differ concerning nature. Health insurance coverages are extensive, including the costs of transportation for being treated at home or recovering at home despite getting discharged. Some insurers also provide coverages such as domiciliary hospitalisation, maternity expense cover, etc. These features are not part of critical illness. Critical illness features focus on the specific ailment, which requires a lump sum amount during diagnosis.
Sum insured
Under health insurance, you can opt for a higher sum insured, even in crores. However, critical illness does not come with high insured sum. The maximum sum one can opt for is between Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 25 lakh.
Benefits structure
Health insurance plans work around indemnity, where the actual hospitalisation cost gets paid. When the claim arises, you need to submit bills supporting the claim request, and the insurer pays the desired amount. Critical illness health insurance policy comes with fixed benefit plans where it pays the sum insured if you get diagnosed with any of the listed critical ailment. The benefit paid does not depend on the treatment cost. The received funds can get used for paying off liabilities or receive proper treatments.
Policy premiums
Both plans differ from each other concerning the tenure. While health insurance plans come with the yearly term, critical illness plans are long-term, i.e., 15 to 20 years.
Waiting period
Health insurance policies have a waiting period of 90 days, which varies from insurer to insurer. Within this frame, you cannot make claims, except for accidental claims. Meanwhile, claims under critical illness health insurance have nine to 30 days waiting period after getting diagnosed with the ailment. This also varies between insurers.
Members covered
Health insurance extends to the individual, family, or senior citizens. Dependent children also get covered. Under an individual plan, the sum insured gets provided separately to every insured member. In floater plans, the sum insured gets divided among the members. But in critical illness, the sum insured gets availed by an individual only.
Both critical illness and health insurance are meant to serve different purposes and supplement each other somehow. Hence, both plans are equally important.