A health insurance policy is an insurance product that provides financial support by covering the pre-specified healthcare expenses of the person buying the insurance policy or the person insured in case he/she needs medical attention.
Edelweiss Tokio Life offers a health insurance plan that covers major critical illnesses.
Health Insurance Plans are indemnity-based or cashless. You can choose to get access to hospitalization/treatments without having to pay anything. Or you can pay for everything yourself and get everything reimbursed indemnified after its completion.
There are various types of Health Insurance Plans to suit diverse health needs. These include:
Understand the features and benefits of a critical illness plan.
Critical illness is a serious health condition that can have a debilitating effect on your lifestyle and the cost involved in the treatment is extensively high. Few critical illnesses include Cancer, Heart Disease, Kidney disease, etc. Such serious critical illnesses will exhaust your entire life’s savings and may also lead to a loss of income. A critical illness plan provides a lumpsum amount to the policyholder on the diagnosis of a pre-listed critical illness.
Benefits of Health Insurance Plans
Health insurance plans are essential if you don’t want to drain your savings paying for excessive hospitalization costs and want to protect yourself from inflation. By taking care of all the medical expenses needed to recover from any illness, injury or accident, health insurance is the perfect tool to battle any health crisis.
You need to buy health insurance not only for the various financial benefits it offers but also for the peace of mind it gives. With it, you can get instant access to affordable health care, all-in-one protection for the entire family, and significant tax benefits.
A critical illness health insurance plan offers comprehensive protection against a host of major illnesses. Many times, we think that if we have a health insurance plan then why do we need to purchase a separate critical illness plan? Here’s the answer:
Critical illnesses are major terminal illnesses that need utmost care and treatment. But this care and treatment may be extremely expensive. Now if you have a mediclaim or a health insurance plan, it may cover your medical expenses depending on the policy's term and conditions. Also, claiming this amount can be time-consuming as you may need to wait for all medical bills and records for submission. Unlike basic health plans, critical illness plan provides a lumpsum amount on the diagnosis of a critical illness. A critical illness plan will cover critical illnesses like cancer, heart disease, kidney disease etc.
This is because treatment of a critical illness like cancer may be as high as Rs. 20 lakhs. So if you have a cover of Rs.30 lakhs, you will receive the entire amount on diagnosis of the critical illness. This amount will not only act as your medical cover but also as an income replacement. During this phase, you may not be in a position to work either temporarily or permanently so the cover amount you receive can be used for your advanced medical treatment, household expenses, repayment of EMIs etc. In this way, a critical illness plan can complement your existing mediclaim and provide you with complete protection.
The prominent features of the plan include:
Coverage against 17 critical illnesses
Claim available from the date of diagnosis
3 claims during the policy term
Complete waiver of premium upon diagnosis
Edelweiss Tokio Life – CritiCare+ is a health insurance product, that covers a truly wide range of 17 critical illnesses. In case you are faced with the unfortunate onset of a critical illness, you will be able to ensure that your family gets the required support to manage their day-to-day expenses as well as your health care expenses. Under the multiclaim option of this plan, you can also make claims up to 3 times during the policy term.
Having health insurance with a critical illness cover should be a priority. If you have a family history of any critical illness, a suitable time to purchase a health policy with a critical illness plan would be as early as possible, keeping in mind the minimum entry age. It is also important to opt for a critical illness cover while you are healthy and free from any critical illnesses, which will ensure lower premium costs. Since medical contingencies are sudden, it is advisable not to wait until you’re face-to-face with such a situation.
You can calculate the value of health insurance premium by using an online premium calculating tool. All you have to do is enter some relevant personal details such as your age, family members, health conditions, any deterrent lifestyle habits, policy term, sum insured and more.
Choosing a suitable critical illness plan is essential if you need comprehensive cover to take care of medical emergencies. Out of the many critical illness plans available in the market, you can choose from the features that are best suited for you. However, here is an outline of some important features that a good critical illness plan must have –
The coverage of the plan should be sufficient to cover the medical expenses.
Most of the major critical illnesses, if not all, should be covered under the plan.
The policy term should be long enough to cover you in your old age.
The premiums should be constant throughout the tenure of the policy.
There should be several network hospitals for cashless treatments.
A medical emergency can turn up any time in our lives and taking care of medical bills can become quite expensive, given the use of modern and state-of-art equipment and specialized treatments in hospitals. As important as it is, many may not know if they need a critical illness plan. Hence, here are some points to help identify who should avail of a critical illness plan:
Additionally, most people in their late 30s or early 40s are financially stable enough to be able to afford a good critical illness.
The documents needed to buy a health insurance plan in India include:
Age and identity proof (Aadhar card, voter ID card, PAN Card, etc.)
Address proof ((Aadhar card, PAN Card, electricity bills, etc.)
Medical report (carried out to see if you are eligible to buy health insurance)
Passport-sized photo(s)
Parameter | Health Insurance | Cancer Insurance | Critical Illness Insurance |
---|---|---|---|
Who should buy it? | Those who want all-round insurance protection for themselves or their entire family. | Those who want specific coverage for all the stages of cancer. | Those who want insurance coverage for multiple critical illnesses at a time. |
Scope of coverage | It covers the costs of hospitalization, surgical procedures, treatments, and ancillary medical needs. | It covers all stages (Stage 0 to Stage 4) of cancer and the allied cots of hospitalization and treatments. | It covers only the critical ailments listed under the policy and allied hospitalization and treatment costs. |
Policy term | 1-3 years, but it mostly requires renewal on an annual basis. | Can go up to 20 years, if needed. | Can go up to 20 years, if needed. |
Policy type | Indemnity-based (Reimbursement) or cashless mode of claim settlement | A benefit-based policy that pays a lump-sum benefit amount on the diagnosis of cancer. | A benefit-based policy that pays a lump-sum benefit amount on the diagnosis of any listed critical illness. |
Premium payable | The premium can vary and increase or decrease each year depending on personal factors like a change in the number of family members or surrounding factors like inflation. | The premium remains fixed despite the long tenure of the policy. | The premium remains fixed despite the long tenure of the policy. |
Should I get it? | Yes, as it is ideal to cover all kinds of ailments and eventualities. | Yes, as it is ideal to cover all stages of cancer. | Yes, as it is ideal to cover all critical ailments. |
Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance offers the Edelweiss Tokio Life COVID Shield+ Plan that offers comprehensive coverage against Coronavirus – hospitalization + COVID-19 term life cover. Under this plan, you get:
Lump sum payout in case of COVID-19 diagnosis and admission into ICU or HDU.
lan is activated once COVID-19 is diagnosed and continues even after death.
Life cover is paid to the nominee in case of insured’s death.
The policy is available online with no medical tests.
Here are a few common myths people have before buying health insurance:
I am fit and healthy, so I don’t need health insurance.
Fact: You will need health insurance at some point.
I am covered under my corporate health insurance policy, so I don’t need a separate health policy.
Fact: Corporate health insurance is not enough to cover your needs.
I will receive coverage for all types of illnesses, treatments, and costs with health insurance.
Fact: Health insurance comes with exclusions, sub-limits, and caps.
Since I am a smoker or drinker, I will not get health insurance.
Fact: You will get health insurance but will have to pay higher premiums.
Critical illness cover is generally not very expensive. It provides the entire sum assured to the policyholder on the diagnosis of a critical illness and then the policy is terminated. This means if a policyholder is diagnosed with cancer, he receives the claim amount and will not receive any future claims. Few critical illness plans cover multiple critical illnesses like cancer, heart disease. In this case, one is protected against not just one but multiple critical illnesses.
Now the policyholder can also choose if he wants to protect himself against a reoccurrence of critical illnesses by adding a minuscule amount and choosing a multi claim option. Under multi claim option, you can claim thrice on the diagnosis of other critical illnesses. So, if the insured is diagnosed with another critical illness, he can claim the sum assured. In this case, the policy doesn’t discontinue after the first claim.
Choosing a multi claim option will be a wise because critical illnesses hamper the other parts/organs of the body too and may give rise to a second critical illness. If you have a multi claim option, you are financially prepared against any uncertainty a critical illness can bring along.
No, the entire critical illness cover is paid on diagnosis. The full payout is made irrespective of undergoing hospitalization or medical costs due to the illness. This amount can be utilized to meet the costs of medical care, manage regular expenses, repay any loans that you may have or for any other expense.
A pre-policy medical check-up and test are mandatory before you can get health insurance coverage. It is to determine the amount of risk attached to your health and the value of premiums payable.
CritiCare+ provides cover against 17 critical illnesses like cancer, heart disease, chronic kidney disease, etc. It provides the claim amount on the diagnosis of the pre-listed critical illness. Unlike regular health plans, you don’t have to submit hospital bills to get the claim amount. Since a critical illness plan covers major critical illnesses, the premium for critical illness plan is comparatively low for a high sum assured.
Smoking increases the insurance premium because it increases health complications such as heart disease, lung disease, cancer, hypertension, etc. This, in turn, increases the insurer’s liability.
There are two claim options. In a single claim option, the pay-out is done on the diagnosis of the critical illness to the policyholder and the policy discontinues. In a multi claim option, the policyholder can claim thrice on being diagnosed with three different critical illnesses. The policy continues even after the first claim. But the good part is that after the first claim the future premiums are waived off.
Yes, you can cancel your health insurance policy after purchasing it. However, you can do so within the 15-day or 30-day free look period. If you cancel your policy after this period, you will be liable to pay cancellation fees and might not get a refund of any premiums paid.
For queries, write to onlinesales@edelweisstokio.in
3 - As per provisions of Income Tax Act, 1961. Tax benefits are subject to changes in tax laws.
** - Claim statistics are for Financial Year 2019-20 and is computed basis individual claims settled over total individual claims for the financial year. For details, refer to Public Disclosures in our Website.
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