Importance of including critical insurance rider along with health insurance plans

Critical illness cover is an essential add-on to a regular health insurance plan. It can provide valuable financial support if the insured person is diagnosed with a critical disease. Keep reading to understand what it is and why you should have one.

Rising inflation and healthcare expenses can deter many people from receiving good quality treatment for an illness. On the other hand, if you have adequate health insurance coverage, you need not worry about the costs when faced with a medical emergency.

However, a regular health plan might sometimes not be enough to care for more expensive healthcare expenses. Especially when faced with a critical illness, policyholders may need a more comprehensive plan suited to handle the costly treatment and elongated long-term care expenses.

Therefore, adding critical illness insurance coverage to your health plan is highly recommended.

What is critical illness insurance cover?

A health insurance policy offers various optional add-on covers, which policyholders can add to the base health plan by paying an additional amount with the actual premium amount. Critical illness insurance is a crucial add-on that can improve your health coverage significantly.

A critical insurance rider provides a lump sum amount to the insured person if

• The insured is diagnosed with any of the critical illnesses listed in the policy document.

• The insured has undergone any of the surgeries specified in the insurance rider document.

Benefits of critical illness rider

• Wide range of coverage

A critical illness plan can provide coverage for 37 different types of major critical illnesses and operations, such as Cancer, Open Heart Replacement, Angioplasty, Brain surgery, and so on. This can be particularly beneficial for people with a family history of a critical illness. For instance, if you have a family history of heart disease, you can consider taking a critical illness rider that covers different heart ailments.

However, it is advised to read the policy documents carefully to know the covered illnesses.

• Financial protection

An adequate critical insurance rider amount helps a policyholder get much-needed financial help during severe illness or prolonged treatment. The receipt of a lump sum amount enables the insured person to focus on the actual treatment than worrying about funds.

Additionally, if the insured is unable to continue working, the lump sum amount can also substitute the income for a while, helping the policyholder’s family to protect their savings despite the treatment costs.

• Affordable premium amount

You can include the critical illness rider to your primary health insurance policy by paying a nominally extra amount over the base premium. Even then, the premium amount can be affordable, considering its significant coverage.

• No hospitalisation required

A regular health insurance plan reimburses the hospitalisation expenses on submitting the relevant proof. However, a critical plan rider can pay the lump sum amount to the policyholder on the diagnosis of a major illness without requiring hospitalisation proof. This can come in handy when a policyholder does not need hospitalisation but requires long-term care.

A critical illness rider adds an extra layer of protection by significantly increasing the scope of your health insurance plan. Therefore, medical insurance with a critical illness rider can be the right step toward attaining the peace of mind you deserve.

You can check our health insurance plans at Kotak General Insurance health insurance page and choose the insurance for yourself or even your family members depending upon your needs.