Critical Illness Cover Policy or Rider Benefit: What makes more sense?

Sometimes we have to handle a few hurdles in our road to realizing our life goals. Usually, these hurdles arrive when we least expect them.

Critical Illness, such as heart ailment, diabetes or cancer, is one such possible problem. Since critical illnesses have the potential to derail our finances, it makes sense to be better prepared for such an eventuality. With the growing prevalence of critical illnesses, it is better to prepare for such an eventuality financially.

While indemnity health insurance policies take care of hospitalization related expenses, they may be found wanting in case of critical illnesses, where the non-hospitalisation costs can be much high.

A critical illness cover, which pays a lump sum amount when you are diagnosed with a disease of serious nature, can be an excellent complement to your primary health insurance plan.

Benefit Of Going For A Critical Illness Rider

• Critical illness covers are available as separate policies as well as a rider with a life insurance policy. Should you go for a different plan or would you instead buy it as a rider with another plan?
• Critical illness riders are convenient because they come with life insurance policy, and so you don't need to pay the premium separately. You can avail the cover by paying an additional premium with the basic policy.
• The sum assured of the critical illness rider is often the same as the base policy cover with a cap sometimes on the maximum sum assured. In most cases, you don't need to take a medical test to buy a critical illness rider.

Advantages Of A Separate Critical Illness Cover Policy

• Though buying a rider seems more convenient, it has its limitations as it is attached to base policy and hence for someone looking for a comprehensive cover, a critical illness rider offers a limited relief.
• For a more comprehensive critical illness cover, a separate plan is a better option. A critical illness rider typically covers 10-12 diseases at most. On the other hand, a separate critical illness plan covers 20-30 critical illnesses. For example, Bajaj Allianz Life Health Care Goal, a critical illness plan, covers as many as 36 serious diseases.
• Having a separate plan has its advantages. You can purchase a cover of your choice based on your needs and do not necessarily have to mirror a life plan which has an entirely different purpose.
• Advantage of having a separate critical illness cover plan is that you have much more option to customize your plan as per your needs. For example, you can add your family members to the plan; you can enhance the cover by adding additional riders to make it perfect for your particular requirement.

Bajaj Allianz Life Health Care Goal comes in different variants. Critical Long-Term Healthcare is for an individual, while Critical Long-Term Family Healthcare is for the family. It also has variants that come with the return of premium feature.

So, while a rider option is packaged as a cheaper way of covering critical illnesses, a separate plan is more cost-effective as it has a more comprehensive cover and more flexibility. Be aware of your needs before you decide to go for a critical illness cover so that you can get maximum advantage of a critical illness cover.