Insurance critical illness cover: What is it and why should you opt for it?

livemint.com:

Medical insurance usually comes handy in case of hospitalisation along with miscellaneous expenses. However, when someone is diagnosed with a serious illness that entails a number of visits to the hospital, the usual medical insurance policy may not suffice. So, what should one do? Well, the answer may vary from situation to situation but more often than not, it is a critical illness cover.

“The main reason for policyholders to buy a separate cover for critical illness is that these independent covers tend to insure a large number of critical illnesses, often over 30. Add-ons to existing plans tend to cover a smaller number of diseases," says Kapil Mehta, Founder of SecureNow Insurance Brokers. “However, the benefit of add-ons is that you do not need to go through a separate medical test or proposal form. In one step, you can get the base and add-on cover.

There does not seem to be any material incentive to buy separate covers for critical illness plans. The rates and policy coverages are the same for new and existing policyholders," he adds. Bhaskar Nerurkar, Head, Health Administration Team, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, says: “Health insurance policy is generally designed to provide coverage for medical expenses like in-patient hospitalisation, room rent, pre & post hospitalisation, among many others.