Health insurance can provide coverage for many of the costs associated with treating a critical illness like cancer or heart attack. But what about the other out of pocket costs that you incur when you or a loved one is battling a major illness and is unable to work? There’s lost income — even if you have disability coverage, which only pays a portion of your regular earnings — along with co-pays, deductibles, family and living expenses, and even transportation costs to and from treatment. Many of these additional costs can contribute to the pressure you are already under at the worst possible time. Critical Illness Insurance can help to cover some of those gaps in your financial plan that you may not have even known existed.
But I already have health insurance.
Despite ongoing medical enhancements, incidence of critical illness in the US is pretty high. Each year about 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke. In 2009, 1.26 million people had a coronary attack and in 2010, 1.53 million new cases of cancer were expected to be diagnosed. Technology has dramatically improved the chances of survival for patients suffering a critical illness. Technology has dramatically improved the chances of survival for patients suffering a critical illness. However, with the possibility of surviving multiple critical illnesses or several incidents of the same illness in your lifetime, your financial plan for the future may be disrupted. With critical illness insurance, the lump sum benefit you receive at the diagnosis of a critical illness can help offset those expenses not covered or not entirely covered by other sources of income or insurance.
This is just another insurance that I will have and never use.
While you hope you’ll never need it, the statistics say there’s a good chance you or a loved one will need to fight a critical illness in your lifetime. You can purchase coverage for yourself, your spouse and your child(ren). In the event one of your loved ones suffers from a critical illness, your spouse is eligible to receive the same level of benefits as you, and your dependent child may receive a percentage of your benefit coverage amount. For Reliance Standard’s coverage, covered critical illnesses are divided into three categories: cancer, cardiovascular, and other. Each category has a 200% lifetime maximum.
I have been diagnosed with a critical illness before and would not be approved for this coverage.
This coverage may be medically underwritten; however, if your group meets our participation requirements, we can offer guaranteed issue amounts of coverage. That means you, your spouse and child(ren) are eligible to receive up to a predetermined amount of coverage without regard to medical evidence of insurability. We may also offer coverage for recurrent and subsequent incidences of critical illness. A recurrent incidence is one within the same category (ex. cardiovascular) and a subsequent incidence of critical illness is one in a different category (ex. cancer and cardiovascular). Your plan will include a pre-existing condition limitation, and you should understand that before buying this or any coverage.
This is another bill I have to track.
Your employer may make it possible for you to purchase this coverage at group rates through convenient payroll deduction, so your peace of mind is as affordable and easy as possible.
That will never happen to me.
That is what we all hope. But increasingly, Americans are outliving their illnesses — and their nest eggs. According to the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance, some 1.4 million Americans were diagnosed with cancer last year, and an average of 2 in 3 are projected to live five years or longer following their diagnosis. Similarly, of the 1.5 million Americans who declared bankruptcy last year, 60% were due to medical bills. More than ¾ of those had health insurance.
See your Human Resources or Benefits representative with questions about your critical illness coverage at work.
