CRITICAL ILLNESS Insurance
It is an unfortunate fact that medical bills remain the number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States. In many cases, these bills are the result of serious illnesses that require years of expensive treatments. Other forms of insurance might cover some of these expenses, but a critical illness insurance policy is the only way that you can be sure you will be covered when you need it the most.
Who Needs This Insurance?
Also known as dread disease insurance, these policies are specifically designed to fill some of the gaps in a typical health insurance plan. Policyholders will generally receive a tax-free lump sum of money if they are diagnosed with any of the medical conditions that are covered in the policy. This type of insurance should be considered by anyone who has a relatively high risk of developing common health problems that are not covered by traditional health insurance.
Critical Health Coverage
You and your insurance agent will need to take a careful look at your medical history and your current policy to see exactly what is covered. As a general rule, critical illness insurance will always cover cancer, heart attacks, and strokes. Policyholders can then extend their coverage to other major health problems such as kidney failure, organ transplants, and paralysis.
Finding the Right Policy
This type of coverage can be further broken down into simplified individual protection plans and fully underwritten individual plans. Simplified individual plans have much lower coverage, but they are also easier to acquire. Most policyholders will only need to answer a few basic medical questions before they are approved, but these policies are generally capped at around $50,000. Fully underwritten policies will provide you with much more coverage, but they almost always require a comprehensive medical exam.
When determining the amount of coverage that you would like, you should consider what kind of expenses you might run into if you become ill. The majority of policyholders have this type of insurance to cover major expenses such as their mortgage payments if they become ill.