Mr. Rahul Arora is a software professional in his early 40s. He works for a well known MNC and draws around Rs 1,00,000/- p.m. He is the single income earner of the family and has a home maker wife and two school going kids. He has a reasonably good health profile.

One day he suddenly collapses in office and is rushed to the nearby hospital by his colleagues. The diagnosis-he has suffered a brain haemorrhage due to which he has had a partial paralytic stroke.

How do people react when they hear of such incidents happening around them to friends, relatives, colleagues and acquaintances?

First reaction      :               Sympathy for the person and his family

The second         :               Fear.”What if it happens to me too?”

But then they convince themselves. ”Only a handful of unfortunate people go through this, so it is not likely to happen to me”.

As much as we would like to believe this, the statistics differ. Today, due to our unhealthy and stressful lifestyles, the percentage of people contracting critical illnesses has increased dramatically. The good part is that due to medical advancement, the successful recovery rates have also increased. However, the treatment is extremely expensive and given that medical inflation in our country is significantly higher than economic inflation, it can wipe out a major portion of our life savings.

While timely treatment and successful recovery is priority, financial preparedness is also essential. It would ensure that one can focus only on getting better without having to worry about the costs involved.

Buying a critical illness cover for the family would help take care of this.

What is a critical illness cover?

A critical illness cover or policy reimburses the policy holder for the covered amount if he or she is diagnosed as suffering from any of the specified illness like heart attack, cancer, kidney failure, stroke, a major organ transplant etc. One can cover himself or herself for such risks either by buying a stand-alone critical illness policy or by taking an additional cover for the same with the main health policy. There are a variety of such policies offered by leading life/general insurance companies with specific benefits like hospitalization benefit, surgical benefit, post hospitalization benefit etc. You can choose one based on your requirement.

You can choose one based on your requirement. And in case you do not have one already, please avail of a critical illness policy right away when you are in a good health condition.

Because, as it is rightly said ‘Health Insurance can be bought only when you do not need it, because when you really need it, you are no longer eligible to get it’.