With rise in medical cost, it has become very difficult for a common man to bear the expenses of hospitalisation especially in the case of major illnesses. Keeping in mind needs of individuals, general insurance companies provide Critical Illness Policies. These are different from Mediclaim policies in the sense that, they provide lump sum payment of sum assured on diagnosis of a listed disease(s) irrespective of the actual medical cost.

Critical Illness policies can be very handy in case of major illnesses as Mediclaim might not be able take care of all the expenses which are incurred during the treatment. In order to help you find a suitable Critical Illness policy we have tried to compare two different policies in our today’s edition of "Financial News. Simplified" (Also Read: Which is the best Health Insurance plan?)

Below table shows the comparison of features between critical illness policies from Bajaj Allianz and Max Bupa.

 

Company Name	Bajaj Allianz	Max Bupa
Policy Name	Critical Illness	Health Assurance
Entry Age	18--65	18--65
Renewal Age	Lifetime	Lifetime
Sum Assured	1 Lakh - 50 Lakh for 6--60 Years, 1 Lakh - 5 Lakh for 61--65 Years	3 Lakh, 5 Lakh, 7.50 Lakh and 10 Lakh
Survival Period	30 Days	30 Days
Tax Benefit	Premium Exempt u/s 80 D	Premium Exempt u/s 80 D
Free Look Period	15 Days	15 Days
Benefit	Lump sum payment of Sum Assured on Diagnose of listed disease	Lump sum payment of Sum Assured on Diagnose of listed disease
No. of Diseases Covered	10 Diseases	20 Diseases
Name of Diseases Covered under the Policy	First Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction)	Aplastic Anaemia
	Cancer of Specified Severity	Bacterial Meningitis
	Kidney Failure Requiring Regular Dialysis	Cancer
	Major Organ Transplantation	Coma
	Multiple Sclerosis with Persisting Symptoms	Deafness
	Open Chest CABG (Coronary Artery disease Requiring Surgery)	End Stage Liver Disease
	Permanent Paralysis of Limbs	End Stage Lung Disease
	Primary Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension	First Heart Attack
	Stroke Resulting in Permanent Symptoms	Fluminant Viral Hepatitis
	Surgery of Aorta	Kidney Failure
		Loss of Speech
		Major Burns
		Major Organ Transplant
		Motor Neurone Disease
		Multiple Sclerosis
		Muscular Dystrophy
		Open Chest Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery
		Open Heart Valve Replacement or Repair
		Paralysis
		Stroke
Premium for 10 Lakh Sum Assured	Age 30 - Rs 3,371; Age 40 - Rs 6,180; Age 50 - Rs 13,483	Age 30 - Rs 2,505; Age 40 - Rs 5,240; Age 50 - Rs 12,916

As you can clearly see in the above table there are 3 major differences in the two policies: (Also Read: Which is the best Term plan?)
 

1. Sum Assured
   
   Bajaj Allianz provides sum assured ranging between Rs 1 Lakh and Rs 50 lakh whereas Max Bupa has just 4 options to choose from i.e. Rs 3 lakh, Rs 5 lakh, Rs 7.50 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. You need to decide how much sum assured you require before opting for one of the above policies.
    
2. Number of Diseases Covered
   
   Bajaj Allianz covers just 10 diseases as compared to 20 diseases covered by Max Bupa. Even though major disease covered under the policies are the same, you have an additional number diseases covered under Max Bupa.
    
3. Premium
   
   There is slight difference in the premium charged by both the companies, with Bajaj Allianz charging a higher premium than Max Bupa.
   
   Other features of both the policies are almost parallel. So, you need to decide the sum assured you want to take, premium you are willing to pay and the most important of all diseases covered under the policy which you might be prone to depending upon your family health history.
    

Conclusion:

The lump sum amount which you get under a Critical Illness Policy as a sum assured on diagnosis of a listed disease(s) irrespective of the actual medical cost, can help your family to overcome the jolt of expenses related to critical illness, while they are already broken down emotionally. You see, such an amount can go towards payment of hospital expenses, out of hospital medical expenses, and towards any other income replacement that you may need.

It is advisable to take up this policy at an early age of 30-35 years as it could get difficult to get insured at a later stage, if you are already diagnosed with a critical illness, where the insurance company may exclude that illness, although they may issue you a policy for other critical illnesses.

Remember, if something unfortunate were to happen by way of one of the critical illnesses and you were to survive the illness, that’s when the critical illness cover will really save your family - financially.

Add Comments