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Hectic daily schedules and increasing stress levels make critical illness insurance policies a necessity today. While a basic mediclaim policy will pay for hospitalisation expenses, a critical illness policy may be needed to take care of loss of income in case you are unable to continue active work and you have dependants. In critical illness policies, you are paid a lumpsum at the first diagnosis of specified illnesses. The money can be used for any purpose, be it towards expenses that your mediclaim policy does not pay for or to settle any outstanding loan.
Edelweiss Tokio Life insurance recently launched a new critical illness policy — CritiCare+. The policy has some unique features and the premium is relatively economical.
Features While most critical illness policies in the market offer a cover of ₹1-50 lakh, this policy offers up to ₹1 crore in sum assured to meet needs of those with large liabilities. Anyone in the 18-65 age group can buy the policy. It can be taken for a minimum of five years and maximum of 30 years. It covers 17 critical illnesses, including heart attack, open heart surgery (and valve replacement), kidney failure, major organ transplant, paralysis of limbs, total blindness and motor neuron disease.
The insured person should survive 28 days from the diagnosis of the illness to make a claim — a condition that is common to most critical illness policies. Pre-existing diseases are covered after 48 months and there is an initial waiting period of 90 days.
One striking feature under the policy is that it offers a multiclaim option. The 17 illnesses covered are divided into four groups. For instance, open chest CABG, heart attack and iorta surgery are clubbed under one group; cancer, brain tumour and transplant of liver, pancreas and lungs are covered in another. If the policyholder opts for multiclaim, he can get benefit for up to three claims with a gap of 365 days between each of them, the only condition being it should not be an illness listed in the same group.
Our take Of the critical illness policies in the market, the highest number of critical illnesses covered is 37. This is offered by a policy from Apollo Munich and the maximum sum assured offered is ₹50 lakh. The premium for a policy of sum assured ₹10 lakh for a 30-year-old male in this policy works out to ₹3,652. Edelweiss Tokio’s CritiCare+ offers cover for a wide range of illnesses though it is not as comprehensive as Apollo Munich’s. The premium here for a sum assured of about ₹10 lakh will be ₹2,000 even if one chooses to go for a multiclaim option.
In the multiclaim option, the advantage to a policyholder is that it waives all future premiums after the first claim. Another plus with Edelweiss’ plan is that the premium is fixed for a five-year term (which is the minimum policy period given).
Critical illness policies from standalone heath insurers or general insurers are usually for one year; the premium may jump every year with the individual’s age and health condition.
Bharti AXA Life’s Triple Health plan also has the feature of multiclaims like the one from Edelweiss Tokio. But, it covers only 13 critical illnesses and the maximum sum assured is ₹30 lakh.
The policy term is 15 years, but the premium you pay initially is fixed only for three years unlike Edelweiss’ plan where it is fixed for five years. The other hitch is that the policy takes only individuals who do not have any pre-existing illnesses.
In Edelweiss’ plan, pre-existing diseases are also covered after a waiting period. For a 35-year-old man, a policy of ₹10 lakh sum assured with Bharti AXA Life Triple Health will cost ₹6,090, much higher compared to the rate of Edelweiss’ CritiCare+.
The one disadvantage we see with Edelweiss’s critical illness policy is the one-year waiting period between claims for someone opting for a multiclaim option. Also, remember that this policy can be renewed only until you are 70 years old.
Critical illness policies from general insurers have a lifelong renewability option. Otherwise, this looks to be a good plan for someone wanting to have an add-on cover with a basic mediclaim policy.
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