Critical Illness Insurance – Critical Illness Plans, Coverage & Quotes
Dealing with a critical illness is difficult enough in itself. Financial hardship only makes it worse. Critical illness insurance is available to help you and your family through tough times. Your standard health insurance policy only covers the medical costs directly associated with your illness, such as hospitalizations. Unlike critical illness insurance, it doesn’t account for other expenses that may result from your condition. If you are predisposed to a covered condition, critical illness insurance plans provide you and your family with an added measure of security.
How does a short term critical illness health insurance policy work? It pays out a lump sum if you develop a severe illness covered in the contract, during the specified time period. The exact critical illnesses covered in these temporary health insurance plans vary, though they normally apply to relatively rare and unexpected conditions that haven’t directly resulted from your actions. Typical conditions that the average critical illness insurance will cover include most types of cancer, heart attack, stroke, most organ transplants, and deafness or blindness. Read contracts carefully, because there are times when certain subcategories of conditions aren’t covered by most critical illness insurance companies (e.g. many critical illness insurance plans refuse to cover melanoma). If you want protection against a more comprehensive array of conditions, a critical illness short term health insurance quote will probably be more expensive.
You can use critical illness health insurance payouts for anything, since there are no strings attached. Ideally, you will use your critical illness insurance plan to pay for things that will allow you to focus on your recovery through alleviating financial stress. Medical care far more expensive than it used to be, which means that you may be left with large deductibles and co-payments; critical illness insurance will help you with the out-of-pocket cost. You will also be able to afford travel and accommodations to and from specialized treatment centers for you and your family. Other common uses include paying off the mortgage, as well as making rent, utility, or credit card payments. In many cases, you have either no or insufficient disability insurance, yet you still can’t work and bring in income. Maybe hiring household help would take some of the burden off your caregivers. You can even go on a vacation with the leftovers!
Despite the clear advantages, there are risks when buying a short term critical illness plan. It is extremely unlikely that you will be able to buy critical illness insurance after having already developed an eligible condition. In addition, there is typically a waiting period involved before your critical illness insurance coverage starts. Most critical illness insurance companies also refuse to sell policies to individuals over the age of 65. You will also have to wait for a certain length of time in order to receive the lump sum after diagnosis–depending on the insurance plan, your family may not receive any money if you die fewer than 30 days after being diagnosed with an eligible condition. There are separate riders you can purchase for an additional fee, which ensures that your estate will be covered in case of death.
Critical illness health insurance is generally sold in amounts ranging from $10,000 up to $1 million. The value you choose should cover at least a year of your income, along with several years’ worth of mortgage payments and your entire credit card debts. Since critical illness insurance quotes are cheaper for younger individuals, it may be a good idea to buy such a policy at a relatively young age if you are at high risk and have others to support. You can buy a critical illness insurance policy by itself or as a rider attached to a health or life insurance plan.
Wondering if a temporary critical illness insurance policy is right for you? VitalOne has licensed insurance agents available to compare short term health insurance coverage and quotes from a multitude of critical illness insurance providers.
