By Alok Rungta
Battling a terminal illness or a chronic disease is a traumatic experience for patients and the people closely associated to them. Often, an ailment of such kind could temporarily affect their income earning capacity, adding to their financial stress. Still, many individuals defer buying protection, assuming that the risks are low or that they can always take it up at a later stage.
What makes this especially concerning is that non-communicable diseases often strike individuals during their prime earning years, disrupting livelihoods, household stability, and long-term financial plans. It is thus important to put in place a financial safety net that can safeguard the patient’s financial commitments or help them return to their earlier lifestyle, allowing them to focus fully on recovery with peace of mind.
While health insurance can cover medical treatment costs, it cannot make up for the lost income or compensate for any additional liabilities such as EMIs, school fees and everyday expenses. Enter critical illness rider, which purchased along with your regular life insurance product, offers that additional layer of financial security.
Your second income source
Since those diagnosed with any serious medical condition are often required to take a long absence from work to undergo treatment, they often require financial support beyond what a standard health insurance plan offers, as it typically covers only hospitalisation costs. This immediate financial support not only enables timely medical attention and preferred choice of treatment but also helps them manage essential financial obligations.
Many insurers further enhance its value by offering a premium-waiver benefit for a specified period following the diagnosis of certain critical illnesses, ensuring uninterrupted policy coverage without adding financial strain. Several insurance products provide coverage for early-stage diseases, offering a defined percentage of the rider sum assured on diagnosis.
Given that the costs associated with a major illness are not limited to hospitalisation alone, a critical illness rider effectively acts as a second income, supporting the policyholder through every stage of the recovery journey
Enhanced risk protection
Policyholders can purchase the rider by adding a nominal additional sum to their existing premium on their base policy. Insurers offer customers the freedom to pay premiums in a way that suits them—whether through a single payment, limited payments, or regular instalments. It also lets them decide how they’d like to receive their rider payout: all at once, as an income stream, or a mix of both. Considering they have the flexibility to choose protection against a few, or all identified critical illnesses, individuals can tailor their cover to match exactly what they need.
The writer is MD & CEO, Generali Central Life Insurance