6 Best Critical Illness Insurance Companies (2023): Benefits and Cover
Critical illness insurance policy provides insurance against life-threatening diseases like heart attack, cancer, paralysis, etc. Upon the diagnosis of any life-threatening disease, your insurance provider will provide you lump sum compensation to cover exorbitant medical expenses.
This post lists out the best critical illness insurance plans in India to help you find a suitable plan as per your needs. Read on!
List of 6 Best Critical Illness Insurance Companies and Policy in India
Considering the features mentioned above, the following are the best Critical Illness Policies in 2023:
| S No. | Insurance Provider | Policy Name | Features |
| 5 | Navi | Navi Health Insurance | 1. Compensation for loss of income of an insured individual** 2. Child tuition benefits in case of death due to critical disease 3. Coverage for second medical opinion for critical diseases 4. Compensation for two critical illnesses even if the sum assured is exhausted for the first one 5. High claim settlement ratio of 97%6.Additional coverage for early-stage cancer |
| 1 | Care Health Insurance | Critical Illness Insurance | 1. Covers 32 illnesses 2. Claim settlement ratio: 95.2% 3. Cashless claim facility at 16,500+ healthcare providers 4. Cover pre and post hospitalisation, psychiatric counselling, organ donation, and dialysis |
| 2 | Niva Bupa Health Insurance | CritiCare | 1. Covers 20 illnesses 2. Premium amount: Rs. 12,521 per year 3. Coverage amount: Rs. 3 lakh to Rs. 2 crore 4. 30-minute cashless claim process 5. Age: 18 to 65 years |
| 3 | Bajaj Allianz | Criti Care Policy | 1. Covers 43 illnesses 2. Multi-year policy: For 1,2,3 years 3. Entry age: 18 to 65 years 4. Sum covered: Up to Rs. 2 crore 5. Premium amount payment in instalment |
| 4 | SBI General Insurance | Critical Illness Health Insurance | 1. Covers 13 illnesses 2. Entry age: 18 to 65 years 3. Sum insured: Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh 4. Two plans: 1 year and 3-year 5. Waiting period: 15 days |
| 6 | Bharti AXA | Bharti AXA Life Critical Illness Cover | 1. Covers 20+ illnesses 2. Cashless claims in 4300+ hospitals 3. Covers pre and post-hospitalisation charges, daycare procedures 4. 24×7 customer support |
Navi is one of the leading health insurance providers offering health insurances with coverage between Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. 1 crore. You can receive a cashless claim in less than 20 minutes across 10,000+ network hospitals pan India. The process to apply for health insurance is completely paperless. Download the Navi app on today!
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Features of Critical Illness Insurance Policies
While opting for a critical illness insurance plan, you should look out for the following features:
1. Coverage
Most critical illness insurance providers offer coverage for up to 36 or more critical diseases. The list includes heart attack, kidney diseases, cancer, tumour, stroke, paralysis, bypass surgery, etc. It is crucial that you review the list of illnesses covered by various insurers and opt for the one that suits your health requirements.
2. Waiting Period
Generally, insurance providers offer the coverage amount after the end of a predetermined waiting period. Many policyholders tend to make a claim and drop the policy later. However, a waiting period reduces the risk from the insurer’s side. Usually, this period is from 48 to 90 days, but it will vary from insurer to insurer.
3. Lump Sum Payment
Some critical illness insurance providers allow you to get a large sum insured. Thus, in case of any life-threatening disease, you can claim a lump sum amount as a one-time payment option.
4. Premium Amount
To avail the benefits of an insurance policy, one has to pay a predetermined amount to their insurer regularly. The benefits that a policy offers should always complement the premium amount. Moreover, some insurance policies wave off premium payment upon diagnosis.
Benefits of Buying Critical Illness Policy
Apart from providing necessary financial assistance, critical illness insurance plans offer the following benefits:
1. Hassle-Free Claim Compensation
For critical illness policies, the insured individual does not need to be hospitalised. To apply for claim compensation, one has to simply furnish their diagnosis reports.
With the use of modern technology, insurance providers transfer the insured amount within a short period and with minimal documentation. They also offer online platforms with 24×7 claim support features. Furthermore, due to tie-ups with many healthcare providers, most insurers offer cashless claim settlements.
2. Income Replacement
As mentioned above, these policies are known for their lump sum payment feature. A policyholder can use a part of this one-time payment as an income replacement. Thus, with that money, you can not only cover your medical bills but also meet your household expenses in case of income loss.
3. Extensive Coverage
Insurance providers recognise that individuals have different medical and financial requirements. Thus, they offer a wide range of policy tenure, premium amount, and sum insured. On top of this, most insurers allow you to claim compensation in any part of the world. So, if you want to get treatment in a foreign country, you can opt for a plan that includes worldwide coverage.
Tax Benefits under Critical Illness Insurance Policy
Critical illness policy offer tax deductions under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Tax deduction applies to the premium paid for these policies. A policyholder can get a deduction up to Rs. 25,000. Meanwhile, senior citizens can avail deductions up to Rs. 50,000.
Final Word
Life-threatening diseases can be emotionally and financially stressful for you and your family. In critical moments, the last thing one should be worried about is medical bills piling up. Fortunately, buying the best critical illness insurance policy will allow you to concentrate solely on getting medical treatments without worrying about the costs.
FAQs
A health insurance policy provides all-around coverage for hospitalisation and associated charges related to various injuries and diseases. Meanwhile, a critical illness policy acts as an add-on benefit-based coverage for life-threatening diseases. For the latter, hospitalisation is not a necessary factor.
Sexually transmitted diseases like AIDs, Syphilis, Hepatitis B and others do fall into the severe and fatal category. Unfortunately, critical illness policies do not cover any sexually transmitted diseases.
Most insurers do allow policyholders to change the coverage amount but to an extent. To avoid any risk, the facility to reduce or increase the sum insured is generally available at the time of policy renewal.
Most critical illness plans offer individual and family coverage. Thus, depending on which policy you opt for, you can include your family members in the plan. However, only those related directly to the policyholder, like parents, children, spouses and siblings, can enjoy the coverage.
A rider is like an add-on to your regular health insurance plan. By paying an extra premium, you can make modifications to the coverage terms and add benefits. Thus, if you want your policy to cover critical illnesses, you can pay an additional premium and customise the plan.
Before you go…
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Disclaimer: This article has been prepared on the basis of internal data, publicly available information and other sources believed to be reliable. The information contained in this article is for general purposes only and not a complete disclosure of every material fact. It should not be construed as investment advice to any party. The article does not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the information, and disclaims all liabilities, losses and damages arising out of the use of this information. Readers shall be fully liable/responsible for any decision taken on the basis of this article.
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