What is the difference between Health Plan and Critical illness plan?
05 Jun 2017
PRASANTH MENON
New Page 1
In this fast paced life, everybody wishes to grow on their salaries and
assets. A biker would dream of buying a four-wheeler, while a guy with a four-wheeler may
dream of travelling to exotic places. It is during this rush for things that they forget
one small mantra; your health is your greatest wealth. And ironically, you require wealth
when your health is in peril. This is where Health Plans and Critical Illness Plans come
to your aid.
The Difference Explained
Consider a simple situation of a biker who happened to meet with an
unfortunate accident. This man comes from a humble background and cannot afford a hefty
sum of Rs 5 lac required to fit his damaged knee back. Consider another situation wherein
this man had insured his capital in a Health Plan. The Health Plan would ensure that this
man is treated for his knee, all for less or no burden on his pocket depending on the type
of plan he chooses. In short, Health Plans have your back if you are injured or happen to
fall ill.
Falling ill is a very general term. A person suffering from common cold
is termed as ill; so is another person with cancer. Critically ill people are those people
who suffer from life-threatening illness such as cancer, kidney failure, heart attack,
paralysis etc. The Critical Illness Plan is exactly what the former plan is not.
Health Plans basically take care of your hospital bills. The company
issuing health plans either pays out directly to the hospital or reimburses the money
spent on the treatment. Critical Illness Plans provide you with a lump sum of the insured
money after the insured patient is detected of any critical illness. Most Critical Illness
Plan comes a survival period clause. Survival period is the duration that the insured has
to survive(14-30 days), after being detecting of the particular critical illness. It is
after this period that the insured will receive his premium benefits.
One interesting benefit of Critical Illness Plans is that it could act
as a 'secondary income source' when the insured is ill and is on the recovery road. Apart
from that, the amount that one receives is totally tax-free. Besides, the cost of the
premium remains the same, which saves the trouble of calculating newer premium rates and
their interests every year.
Health Plan
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Critical Illness Plan
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Boots the medical bill.
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Provides a lump sum on detection of illness.
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Cost of premium varies.
|
Cost of premium remains the same.
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Cannot act as 'secondary source of income'.
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Can act as a 'secondary source of income'.
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A Common Path
A Health Plan and a Critical Illness Plan, both have benefited the
general public on a greater scale. Despite their common goal, they follow two diversified
paths only to merge at one. A Health Plan is a must. So is a Critical Illness Plan. If
your Health Plan has provisions for it, try to obtain the Critical Illness Plan as an
add-on, which would prove to be a cheaper option. A wiser move as this will surely
introduce a new saying: Wealth indeed supplements Health.