Among the types of diseases known to mankind, cancer is one of the worst because of its very nature. Beside mental trauma, its treatment also burns a big hole in your pocket which can derail all your finances.
Cancer insurance is a special type of insurance plan that offers financial aid to those who are diagnosed with the deadly disease in order for them to be able to meet all the costs associated with its diagnosis and treatment. Cancer insurance is an extension of the health insurance plan and the money is paid out at various stages of its treatment or in the form of a lump sum for advanced stages.
Your health insurance may cover cancer along with other critical illness, but will offer less flexibility in terms of coverage amount, payments terms, and waiting period. Cancer health insurance is less expensive compared to any health insurance and offers extensive coverage, greater payout ratios, and is available with very few riders and eligibility criteria.
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How to Choose the Right Cancer Insurance Plan for Yourself
Any cancer has four stages, Carcinoma In Situ (CIS), early stage, major stage, and critical stage. Most insurers treat the first two-stage and the last two stages similarly in terms of payout of benefits.
Following are the points you need to check in the policy terms:
First, you need to go through the details of the cancer health insurance plan, and the benefits it offers including payout at all stages.
Second, you need to compare what kind of benefits apply at each stage and total benefit offered under the plan.
Third, you should check if the plan coverage amount is fixed throughout the term policy or does the coverage amount increase at a fixed percentage limit each year up to a certain fixed limit. Taking the policy whose coverage amount increases incrementally helps to takes care of the escalating medical costs.
Fourth, check if there will be a full waiver on payment of future premium and is there any regular income benefit upon diagnosis.
Fifth, check the minimum and maximum entry age with the maximum policy term. Most of the insurers provide a policy term 10 to 20 years, and maximum maturity age of 70-75 years.
Sixth, you need to check the initial waiting period of the policy which means that after the date of commencement of the policy, after how many days a valid claim is permissible under the policy. In some cancer policy terms, there is also a survival period, which means that a patient has to survive at least the survival period from the date of diagnosis in order to make the claim valid.
Who Should Take Cancer Health Insurance
Ideally, everyone should go for cancer insurance due to its highly unpredictable nature, but those with a strong family history of cancer have a higher risk of contracting the deadly disease and should take a cancer insurance cover.
Other factors like, if you are the only earning member and don’t have enough savings to take care of the cost of medical bills or if your health insurance policy don’t have sufficient coverage or you live in an area where you believe the risk of developing cancer is higher, then you should definitely consider having cancer insurance.
Conclusion
Being the worst kind of health disease, cancer can exhaust you emotionally, physically, and financially, and also bring pain to your near and dear ones. And, even the best health insurance cover can fail to provide extensive coverage required for the disease. Cancer Insurance provides the much needed financial coverage that helps you to manage the financial risks and deal with the situation better.
WittyPen | Generated on Fri, Mar 22, 2019 7:20 PM
