Page 41 - Insurance Times February 2024

Critical illness products are available Hormonal Therapy or Endocrine manipulation
On fixed benefit basis or on Indemnity basis as : Stem cell transplantation
o Standalone products
In fixed benefit type of policy, these plans
o Riders to life and non-life policies
provide coverage throughout the period of
o Component of a packaged health insurance
product. illness by
Lumpsum payout on diagnoses of the disease ranging
Cancer Insurance Policy-A disease-specific variant such as a from 25% to 100% of the sum assured depending upon
Cancer Insurance Policy protects from only the dread of the stage at which it is diagnosed.
cancer and not from other critical illnesses. It is priced at a
Payouts at different stages of treatment.
much lower rate for a high amount of coverage.
Regular income to the insured during the post-
Standalone Cancer Insurance Policy offer coverage as high operative care phase or post-chemotherapy/
as Rs. 1 to Rs. 3 crore with an initial waiting period of 2 to radiotherapy phase to take care of the recurring
3 years for the risk to commence. These plans are available expenses.
on an indemnification and fixed-benefit basis.
Waiting period - These plans come with an initial waiting
These plans are also offered as Rider along with the base period ranging from 2 to 3 years. It means that the risk will
plan in a life insurance policy or along with a base health not commence immediately after taking the policy but after
insurance policy. 2 or 3 years as mentioned in the contract.

In an indemnity type of policy, these plans Survival for 7 or 15 days - In fixed benefit plans the benefit
usually cover the following: is provided if the insured survives a few days after the
Conventional treatment : diagnosis of the disease.
o Chemotherapy
Premium waiver benefit- On diagnosis of the disease
o Radiotherapy
some plans provide a waiver of future premiums under the
Expenses incurred before hospitalization policy.
Expenses incurred after hospitalisation
Treatment and/or services rendered anywhere in India Pre-existing cancers are excluded - These plans both
indemnity based or fixed benefit based, do not provide
All hospitalization/daycare treatment/outpatient
coverage once a cancer is diagnosed. An insurer can even
treatment
impose exclusion for cancer treatment in hospitalization
Post-treatment follow-up
indemnity products if it is pre-existing.
Medical expenses for organ transplant necessitated due
to cancer It is of utmost importance that one should go for these
Reconstruction of affected body part post-surgery insurances while one is young and has started earning. Once
Ambulance charges per hospitalisation a person is diagnosed with a disease the coverage may be
denied.
Some plans in the Indian market also provide
optional cover for the following at an additional Conclusion:
cost : A Cancer/specified-disease insurance policy provides
comprehensive cover and helps to meet the costs related
Second opinion for surgery
to out-of-pocket medical expenses, experimental cancer
Rehabilitation and pain management treatments, out-of-network specialist consultations, child
Hospice care care, travel and lodging related to treatment, and other
living expenses. In addition to this, in order to seek
Proton beam therapy
treatment at world-leading medical centers coverage for
Immunotherapy medical second opinion is also provided under these plans.
Personalised & Targeted therapy Although Insurers cannot control the incidence of high

38 February 2024 The Insurance Times