Critical Illness Insurance vs Cancer Insurance
When it comes to protecting ourselves and our loved ones from unforeseen financial burdens associated with health challenges, supplemental insurance coverage plays a vital role. With so many types of insurance on the market, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the available options and pick the one that will work best for you and your family.
Among the various insurance options available, critical illness insurance and cancer insurance are two that are frequently misunderstood. While both types of coverage aim to provide financial support during a time of crisis, they each have differences for the type of illness they cover for the policyholder. In this article, we will explain both insurance options, helping you make an educated decision to protect your loved ones in the most effective way possible.
Critical Illness Insurance
This type of insurance is designed to provide a lump-sum payment if the policyholder is diagnosed with a covered critical illness. This coverage tends to cover a wide range of illnesses such as heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, and other life-threatening illnesses.
The policyholder receives benefit payments regardless of the actual medical expenses incurred. The key benefits of this type of coverage are financial security and flexibility. The lump-sum payment can be used wherever the policyholder sees fit, such as on medical bills, household expenses, taking time off work to recover, and the list goes on.
Cancer Insurance
As the name suggests, cancer insurance solely focuses on providing coverage for many types of cancer. This policy offers benefits that are specific to cancer-related expenses such as radiation therapy, diagnostic tests, chemotherapy, and other similar expenses.
This supplemental insurance oftentimes provides financial benefits for cancer treatments that may not be covered by a comprehensive health insurance plan. Certain cancer insurance plans also include benefits for regular screenings and preventive care, which may help lead to early detection and higher treatment success rates.
Differences between Critical Illness Insurance and Cancer Insurance
- Coverage scopes: Critical illness insurance provides benefits based on a broad range of illnesses, while cancer insurance is specifically designed to provide benefits on diagnosis or treatment of certain types of cancer.
- Payout: Critical illness provides a lump sum regardless of actual medical costs, but cancer insurance typically provides benefits for a cancer specific diagnosis, with the benefit amount varying by the policy.
Supplemental Insurance Policies
It is important to understand these are supplemental insurance policies, meaning they help fill in some gaps within your existing health insurance plan but do not replace your health insurance.
After purchasing a comprehensive health insurance plan, cancer and critical illness insurance policies are low-cost, supplemental insurance that provide you with additional coverage. A supplemental plan often helps pay health insurance deductibles for specific care or may provide you with a lump sum to help pay for out-of-pocket expenses.
Deciding to Purchase
Which one should you buy? When possible, it is best to purchase both. It is very beneficial to own both types of insurance in order to cover the widest range of illnesses, obtain the most financial support available, and have the best chance at owning supplemental insurance protection that matches your circumstances.
If choosing between the two, it is important to take into consideration your health history. Understanding your health history is an important component of making the best insurance decisions because it provides you with insight as to which sicknesses you may be at a higher risk of having.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), most people have at least one chronic disease in their family health history, so knowing your family’s health history is also one of the best ways to determine which insurance policies are best suited for you.1 Regardless of which type of supplemental insurance you buy, it is best to purchase while you are in good health. These plans can be affected by pre-existing conditions, and you may not be able to obtain coverage for treatment if you were diagnosed with the illness prior to purchasing the insurance.
At the end of the day, it is important to evaluate your personal circumstances, medical history, finances, and priorities before selecting the insurance coverage best for you. After evaluating these factors and understanding the differences between critical illness insurance and cancer insurance, if you’re still unsure of which to purchase, we recommend speaking directly with an agent who can guide you through the process. Both policies are beneficial in various circumstances and offer a desirable safeguard when dealing with unforeseen and costly health challenges.
Sources:
-
CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/genomics/famhistory/famhist_basics.htm accessed April 2023.
Reading Sources:
-
Healthcare., https://www.healthcare.gov/choose-a-plan/plan-types/ accessed 2023.
-
Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/advisor/health-insurance/what-is-supplemental-health-insurance/, accessed 2023
-
Health insurance, https://www.healthinsurance.org/glossary/cancer-insurance-policy/, accessed 2023.
Categories: cancer insurance, critical illness insurance, Insurance