Most people we talk to have never heard of critical illness insurance. We’ll briefly address that, but first let’s ask an important question: Why would you consider adding another insurance product to your life? Consider this:
- According to the American Heart Association’s Heart and Stroke Statistical Update (published in 2008), between 1994-2004 the death rate for heart attacks declined around 31% and the death rate for strokes declined 24%.
- The National Center for Health Statistics reports that the possibility of surviving a critical illness before age 65 is almost twice as great as dying.
Most people realize they need life insurance to take care of loved ones if they die prematurely… but increasingly events like heart attack, stroke, and cancer are survivable. But there could be a big, expensive fight and recovery. You’ll miss work, you’ll have other financial needs. You may have a high health insurance deductible. You get the idea. Critical illness insurance can provide you with a big fat wad of cash to help you survive financially so you can focus on the bigger fight.
By the way, a good critical illness insurance policy is also a term life insurance policy, so it will pay out the benefit if you do die for any reason during the policy term.
Companies like AFLAC have made cancer insurance plans fairly well known, but critical illness policies provide an even greater measure of protection because they are typically not confined to cancer only (though some carriers will sell cancer-only versions) and because they pay a lump-sum benefit as opposed to the per-day diem as defined by the complicated schedule of benefits you find on many workplace supplemental plans. In other words, if you’re diagnosed with cancer you’d get a check for your policy amount, say $25,000, rather than $500 per day you receive radiation (I’m making that $500 figure up… but you get the idea).
The good news is that critical illness insurance is not expensive, and is a great complement to a high deductible health insurance plan. If you’re interested in learning more, we invited you to contact us. We can show you quotes from several different carriers (like Humana and Assurant Health) and you can get coverage in place pretty quickly. Why not check it out?