Critical Illness Insurance: Who needs it?

When you are in the pink of health, the possibility of being diagnosed with a serious illness might be far from your mind.

But every day, 36 people in Singapore get diagnosed with cancer, which is the Republic’s number one cause of death, according to a 2015 news report.

To make matters worse, Singapore has one of the highest medical inflation rates in the region, which means that healthcare costs can be expected to rise quite a bit year on year.

In order to ensure medical care remains affordable in the face of serious illness, Singaporeans need to ensure they are adequately insured.

Critical illness insurance is one type of insurance to consider adding to your arsenal of protection. This type of insurance offers a lump sum payout if you are diagnosed with a critical illness, including late-stage cancer.

In addition, some critical illness policies offers other benefits that help you detect and manage illnesses more effectively. For instance, HL Assurance’s Critical Illness Protect360 also offers free yearly health screenings as well as a second medical opinion free of charge.

So, how do you know if you should get critical illness insurance? Ask yourself the following question.

 

Do you have enough money if you are out of the workforce for five years?

Medical bills are not the only thing you will have to worry about if you are diagnosed with a critical illness.

Due to the long duration involved in fighting many critical illnesses, you might have to stop working for months or even years as you seek treatment and recovery.

Assuming you were out of the workforce for five years, you would have to ensure you had enough money for your living expenses as well as your dependents’ over that time period. In addition, you might have to pay for additional costs such as out-of-pocket expenses for medical treatment.

If this is a sum of money you do not think you have, then critical illness insurance is for you. The lump-sum payout from your critical illness policy would be able to help with the above costs and offer financial security until your recovery.

 

Singaporeans lack Critical Illness protection

If you have just realised with alarm that you lack the critical illness protection you need, you are not alone.

According to a 2018 news report, economically-active Singaporeans and PRs only have enough critical illness coverage for a year of their expenses, with the average employed person having coverage amounting to only $60,000. This is only 20% of what the Life Insurance Association’s 2017 Protection Gap Study has estimated that they will need.

This is troubling, as it means that a great many Singaporeans and PRs would be placed in a terrible financial situation if they were to be diagnosed with a critical illness.

 

Get Critical Illness protection when you’re healthy

You might be fit as a fiddle right now, but that doesn’t mean you should put off getting your critical illness protection until later on in life.

Critical illness insurance should be bought when you are healthy. The reason for that is that once you are diagnosed with a critical illness, most insurers will not cover you. You would thus have lost your chance to receive financial support in your time of need.

So, the moral of the story is that it is never too early to start getting critical illness protection.

 

HL Assurance’s Critical Illness Protect360 offers up to $2 million of financial protection against 37 types of critical illness, including late-stage cancer, heart attack and stroke. Protect yourself today.