Critical Illness and other add-on covers

Protect Your Financial Health with ManipalCigna Lifestyle Protection Critical Care

Critical illnesses can crop up when you least expect them. Rather than be surprised tomorrow, why not start preparing right away? Critical illness treatment is expensive, after all. The care required could exhaust your regular insurance coverage and wipe out your savings. Helping you avoid such an eventuality is ManipalCigna Lifestyle Protection Critical Care, a critical illness plan that shields your medical and financial health.

Lifestyle Protection Critical Care ensures financial support from the onset of a life-changing critical illness diagnosis. The plan comes in two powerful variations: Critical Care Basic and Critical Care Enhanced. Both variants are designed to upgrade your financial risk protection through every stage of life.

Top reasons to choose ManipalCigna Lifestyle Protection Critical Care

Conventional health insurance plans cover a wide range of hospitalization and other medical expenses. However, should you need critical illness care over the long term, the coverage from your base policy could fall short. Now, here’s the silver lining: there is less need to worry if you have a Lifestyle Protection Critical Care plan from ManipalCigna.

The Lifestyle Protection Critical Care plan is no replacement for your current health insurance policy. Instead, think of it as a valuable supplement that supports you through a healthcare crisis. Here are some of its key benefits.

1. Extended coverage linked to your income:

The Lifestyle Protection Critical Care plan offers sum insured options that range from Rs 1 lakh to a whopping Rs 25 crore. Moreover, this financial protection plan is linked to your income. You can choose a sum insured (in multiples of 1,000) that is up to 10 times your annual income.

Just keep in mind that the sum insured for each insured member will vary under a family floater policy. Here’s what that might look like for each family member:

• An earning member is eligible for 100% of the sum insured opted for.
• A non-earning spouse is eligible for 60% of the sum insured of the earning member.
• A dependent child is eligible for 30% of the sum insured of the earning member.
• A dependent parent, parent-in-law, or sibling is eligible for 30% of the sum insured of the earning member.

The focus is on safeguarding your finances if a critical illness leads to job loss, a spike in healthcare expenditure, or both.

2.Payment disbursement tailored to your needs:

At the time of purchase, the policy buyer can select one of two claim payment options: Lumpsum or Staggered.

• • Under the Lumpsum payout option, the Critical Care plan will disburse the entire sum insured at the first diagnosis of a covered critical illness. The patient can use this money to pay for medical treatment. It could also be used to cover monetary shortfalls arising from loss of income due to the disease.
  • Under the Staggered payout option, the sum insured will be paid out in separate instalments. First, 25% of the sum insured will be paid out upon confirmation of the critical illness diagnosis. The remaining 75% of the sum insured and an additional 10% will be paid in 60 equal monthly instalments (EMIs). The EMIs will begin from the next month following the diagnosis.

There’s another benefit for those who choose the Staggered option at the time of policy purchase. They could change their mind and switch to the Lumpsum option at the claim payment stage. However, this benefit is not available to those who selected the Lumpsum pay-out at the beginning.
 

3. Benefit available all over the world:

Lifestyle Protection Critical Care is a global plan that assures a pay-out regardless of where the policyholders have been diagnosed. The initial diagnosis need not be made in India. The patient must simply have the necessary documents to file the claim.

Policyholders can file a claim on receiving a critical illness diagnosis or undergoing a surgical procedure. However, they must pass the initial 90-day waiting period and a 30-day survival period for the claim to be valid.

4. Big discounts on premium payments:

When taking a critical illness plan, it makes sense to get the biggest sum insured available. Of course, that would push up the premium amount. But with the Lifestyle Protection Critical Care plan, policy buyers can benefit from some attractive discounts:

• • There’s a family discount of 10% on the premium if two or more family members are enrolled under the same family floater policy.
  • A long-term discount of 7.5% applies if the premiums for two years are made in a single payment. The discount increases to 10% if the three-year premium is paid in one go.
  • If you purchase the policy directly from ManipalCigna, you get a 10% discount on the premium.
  • There is also a 10% discount on policies bought through a worksite marketing channel.

5. Wide range of critical illnesses covered:

The Lifestyle Protection Critical Care plan covers up to 30 critical illnesses. These include cancer, first heart attack, coma, major organ transplant, permanent paralysis, and loss of hearing or sight, among many others. To file a claim, policyholders will need to furnish a medical certificate diagnosing the critical illness, pharmacy bills, prescriptions, and other relevant documents.

It should be mentioned that once the claim for an insured person has been paid, the policy terminates for that individual. However, in the case of family floater policies, the policy continues to stay active for all remaining insured members.

6. All-round commitment to health and wellness:

A critical illness diagnosis can be a trying time for the patient and their loved ones. Getting a second opinion can sometimes help patients navigate the crisis in a better way. The Lifestyle Protection Critical Care plan enables policyholders to get a second opinion from our network of doctors following their diagnosis. This benefit is available once to each insured member during the policy term.

All policyholders can also sign up for online wellness programmes offered by ManipalCigna Health Insurance. They can participate in tailored programmes to assess health risks, manage their lifestyle, and improve their nutrition.

Which Critical Care Plan Is Right for You?

ManipalCigna Lifestyle Protection Critical Care comes in two variations: Basic and Enhanced. Both plans offer sum insured options ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 25 crore and have an initial waiting period of 90 days. Select a plan based on your family’s medical history and your budget.

A: Critical Care Basic

The base variant covers up to 15 critical illnesses. These include cancer of specific severity, first heart attack, open chest CABG, open heart valve replacement or repair, coma, kidney failure, stroke, major organ or bone marrow transplant, paralysis of limbs, motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, primary (idiopathic) pulmonary hypertension, aorta graft surgery, deafness, and loss of sight. A pre-specified degree of severity must be met in each case.

Critical Care Basic is the budget variant of ManipalCigna’s critical illness cover. A sum insured of Rs 10 lakh for a 30-year-old male who does not smoke costs just Rs 2,915 per annum (including taxes). Policy buyers could avail of discounts to bring down the premium payable. The premium paid also fetches a tax deduction of up to Rs 1 lakh under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act.

Who should choose Critical Care Basic?

The Basic variant is a starter plan for anyone who wants to upgrade their risk protection. It is especially suited to those who have a history of critical illness in their family. Critical Care Basic is an affordable way to shield your savings when a critical illness leads to income loss and high treatment costs.

B: Critical Care Enhanced

This is the premium plan under the Lifestyle Protection Critical Care umbrella. The Enhanced variant ups the ante by offering coverage for 30 critical illnesses. In addition to the 15 conditions specified by the Basic plan, the Enhanced version also covers coronary artery disease, aplastic anaemia, end-stage lung or liver failure, third-degree burns, fulminant hepatitis, Alzheimer’s disease, bacterial meningitis, benign brain tumour, apallic syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, medullary cystic disease, muscular dystrophy, loss of speech, and systemic lupus erythematous.

Extending the coverage to 30 diseases pushes up the annual premium slightly vis-à-vis the Basic plan. So, a sum insured of Rs 10 lakh for a 30-year-old non-smoking male comes for a premium of Rs 3,776 per annum. Since there is no way of knowing which disease will strike in future, the Enhanced plan covers more ground and hedges your risks in a better way.

Who should choose Critical Care Enhanced?

The Enhanced variant is a critical illness plan that ticks all the boxes. Since it provides for a much wider range of serious medical conditions, it is perfectly suited to people who have a family history of critical diseases. With a maximum entry age of 65 years and lifelong renewals, the plan ensures coverage through every stage of life.

Final word

The Lifestyle Protection Critical Care plan is designed to safeguard your finances in the difficult period following a critical illness diagnosis. With coverage for up to 30 critical illnesses, this health insurance product from ManipalCigna can be your financial support in tough times.

You can easily buy your preferred policy through the ManipalCigna website and get reliable information from qualified Health Relationship Managers. A single point of contact addresses all your concerns throughout your policy term. Should you need to file a claim, a claims service associate ensures that the claims experience is smooth and stress-free.

References:

• https://www.manipalcigna.com/critical-illness-cover
• https://www.manipalcigna.com/documents/20124/0/CriticalCare_Accordian_Oct20.pdf/69405168-9a8e-3741-520c-b46f7ff01d9f
• https://www.manipalcigna.com/critical-illness-cover/lifestyle-protection-critical-care/critical-care-enhanced
• https://www.manipalcigna.com/documents/20124/0/Prospectus%20(4).pdf/68d8a4c6-24be-6025-faa8-13ca15aaf88f
• https://www.manipalcigna.com/critical-illness-cover/lifestyle-protection-critical-care

(Only illnesses and plan name)