4 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Critical Illness Insurance

Posted by healthinsurance on March 18th, 2021

Health insurance can help tackle the big hospitalisation bills during an illness. While that kind of coverage can be an immense relief, there are certain expenses that often go beyond the purview of your health insurance. For instance, you may require the help of a domestic worker to care for you while you are ill. The salary of a domestic worker cannot be covered by your health insurance, but that does not mean that you can ignore this expense or go without your needs. So, how do you afford such costs that arise from an illness? The answer can be – with the help of critical illness insurance.

Critical illness insurance pays out a lump sum amount that can serve as an income replacement. The coverage can let you take time off from work to focus on receiving life-saving treatment.

Even if you have MediShield Life or an Integrated Shield Plan, it helps to have critical illness insurance too. If you are planning on buying this form of coverage for the first time, you might need a bit of help. To steer you in the right direction, we have listed down a few mistakes to avoid when buying critical illness insurance.

Mistake #1 – Miscalculating the coverage you need

Quite often, people tend to decide the coverage limit of their insurance plans based on the premiums. This can prove to be a huge mistake and see you end up with lesser coverage than what you actually need. The sum assured of your critical illness cover should be decided based on your household expenses. Calculate the amount that it takes to run your home for at least 4 to 5 years – this will help you arrive at the right amount you need. On an average, it takes around 5 years for a person to fully recover from a critical illness. Now, you may get better sooner; however, it could be considered wise to still opt for a sum assured that can help run your home for a year or two more. You could, perhaps, benefit from a bit more rest and time with your loved ones.

Mistake #2 - Forgetting to explore available riders

Leading insurers in Singapore usually offer you room to customise your critical illness insurance plans. This customisation can be done through riders or supplementary benefits. These riders come at an added cost to your insurance premium; however, they are worth every dollar spent. You can opt in for riders that will allow you to claim up to 500% of your plan’s basic sum assured or give you a lump sum payout upon diagnosis of an infectious disease that sees you admitted to the ICU. These benefits can truly prove handy and help you protect your finances when illnesses suddenly strike.  

Mistake #3 – Not getting early critical illness coverage

Many critical illness plans only offer coverage once the disease reaches a certain stage (usually an advanced one). However, early stages of a disease may have higher potential for relapses and you will need adequate medical care even more so. Therefore, you need to look into getting coverage for both early and intermediate stages of critical illnesses. You can include coverage for these early stages by opting in for riders that widen the scope of your critical illness plan.

Mistake #4 – Skipping out on getting professional advice

With so many options of critical illness insurance plans out there, it is easy to get confused. Rather than making a mistake, it is advisable to seek the help of an insurance consultant. An insurance consultant can help you explore all the available insurance plans that fall within your budget and make good recommendations. This way, you can be sure of getting the exact coverage you need.

We hope that this article proves helpful when you set out to buy a critical illness plan for yourself and your loved ones.

Take care.

READ MORE: - Why You Need Health Insurance AND Critical Illness Insurance