What are the best Cancer insurance plans in India? What are the things to know before buying a Cancer Insurance Plan?
Cancer is a curse which once grips an individual, makes a significant impact in his life for worse. It is surely one of the deadliest forms of disease we have ever seen in the history of mankind. In cancer abnormal cells grow uncontrollably in major parts of the body and forming a mass of tissue called tumour. In such a case normal resistance system of the body stops working. Although there are around hundred plus types of cancer and any body part can be affected by it, some of the major body parts which cancer affects are lungs, breast, colorectal, prostate, skin, stomach. Men and women both are equally vulnerable to cancer and ours is a country which has some of the highest cancer rates in the world.
With the advancement of medical technology doctors have now started approaching towards the treatment of cancer more confidently and aggressively than a decade ago. But the treatment of the same is long and expensive. For example, in India a few cycles of chemotherapy can cost more than twenty lakhs. Sometimes cancer treatment costs go beyond the reach of a common man and this creates a difficult situation for the patient and his family in the hour of crisis.
We will discuss below how an individual can mitigate the risk of financial bankruptcy in case, god forbid, such a dreadful disease attacks him or family members. We all normally have a health insurance policy in place. In such a policy only hospitalization bills are covered. Cancer treatment is covered in a limited form with a sublimit and other restrictions in a regular health insurance product. Thus, the normal group health insurance policy offered by our employer or the vanilla family floater health insurance we are currently covered in may not be sufficient to cover such an expensive and complicated treatment.
Cancer along with other named diseases is covered with almost every critical illness insurance policy offered by life and general insurers. Such critical illness policies are also commonly offered as an additional cover with many life insurance and health insurance policies on payment of a nominal extra premium. Critical illness policies are available online or offline and provides option of a wide range of sum insured ranging to crores. These policies are benefit policies which will pay a lump sum amount which is the sum insured in case of diagnosis or detection of any of the listed critical diseases. The patient may use this amount to his hospital bills, drugs and medical treatment costs. This is no doubt a big support to him but we must know that a critical illness policy excludes many early stages of cancer. It also excludes many types of other cancer like skin cancer, prostate cancer etc.
An early stage is the most crucial stage for successful treatment of Cancer. If the critical insurance policy does not pay there then the patient is unable to provide himself proper treatment and medical facilities. Also excluding many common types of cancer from the critical illness policy makes it an incomplete one. To resolve this serious problem life insurers now a days come up with innovative cancer insurance plans which in addition to filling the gaps of a critical illness policy provide many other benefits and ensure long time complete protection.
Cancer insurance plans offer stage wise pay outs on different stages of cancer whether it may be an early stage or a major stage. Some of the best cancer insurance plans offered in India by the life insurers are hereby mentioned but it is always advised to do a self-research as per your needs and budget before concluding a purchase decision. HDFC Life cancer care in an elite product in the segment which pays 25% of sum insured on detection of early stage cancer. It provides numerous other lucrative benefits like no claim bonus, waiver of premiums. ICICI Prudential life insurance heart cancer protect is a premium cancer plan which should be looked at. It also provides benefits like increasing cover, family discount, premium waiver, loss of income etc. There are other products available in the market like LIC Cancer cover plan, Max life cancer insurance plan and many more. Almost every life insurer in India is currently offering such a product.
Ten important things to watch before buying a cancer insurance plan are mentioned below. Kindly note that more features come with more price so it is essential to strike a balance between affordable premium, enough sum insured and necessary features.
- Look for the survival period, it is the period between the date of first diagnosis and date of eligibility for a benefit payment. The lesser this period the better it is.
- Check out the waiting period for the first diagnosis under the policy. The lesser the waiting period the better it is.
- Heed to the maximum renewable age till you will be covered in the policy. The longer the better.
- Look for No claim bonus benefits. Many policies offer increase upto 200% of original sum insured.
- Waiver of premium once cancer is diagnosed can prove to be a saviour in difficult times.
- Percentage of pay out on early stage diagnosis. More the pay out better will be for us to manage our treatment costs.
- Family discounts, online purchase discounts etc can help you save a few bucks on premium.
- Check out for other benefits like hospital cash, loss of income etc.
- Check out for warranties like no smoking and alcohol and disclose all material facts regarding your health to avoid repudiation of claim at a later stage.
- Check the claim settlement ratio of the insurer.