You NEED this Insurance, but don't have it yet!
Well, the catchy subject line is over.
But no, this wasn’t click-bait advertising. In this short post, I’m actually going to talk about the different insurance polices that we MUST have. Sadly, most of us don’t have these, and we don’t realize it now. And although I hope none of us need to ever use insurance, it’s always good to have these policies with you.
First of, the golden rule of buying any insurance policy. IT IS NOT AN INVESTMENT. DON’T TREAT IT LIKE ONE!
An insurance policy is an umbrella for a rainy day. If it rains, you’ll need the umbrella, If it doesn’t, still, carrying it won’t harm you. However, if it does rain and you don’t have the umbrella, you’re doomed (depending on how bad the rains are).
So without wasting any more time, let’s get to the different insurance polices that every human being on this planet MUST have. While there are a lot of policies, I’m just going to discuss 4 major ones that are absolutely essential.
(If you have Mediclaim and Term Insurance, you can straight move to point 3)
Mediclaim (Health Insurance): Irrespective of your age, this is the first policy that you should get. If you’re sick and ever need hospitalization, this policy will pay for your medical bills
Term Insurance: This is a policy where you are securing your family, in case, God forbid, something were to happen to you. If you were to die for whatever reason, your family will get paid with the cover amount of the policy. If you don’t have this policy, however, imagine leaving your family where the kids’ education expenses, their marriage, the general household expenses, your parents’ living expenses and everything else, is left on just your spouse. Scary, isn’t it? Which is why, a Term Insurance is a must have.
If you want to know more about what should be the cover, premium etc for Term Insurance and Mediclaim, I’ve written the details here
Critical Illness Insurance: This insurance covers you if you are diagnosed with a critical illness, such as cardiac disease, cancer, kidney failure, liver failure etc. Why this should be purchased separately, you ask? Because the treatments for these illnesses are very expensive, and your pure vanilla mediclaim may not provide enough cover for this. A 50-lakh Critical Illness cover would cost you less than Rs. 1,000 a month. The same 50-lakh cover in a mediclaim will cost you anywhere upwards of 2,000/month. So while your mediclaim will cover general small hospitalization expenses, your critical illness insurance will cover the major, life-threatening and expensive treatments like Chemotherapy. And the premium you pay would be hardly noticeable. But when calamity strikes and you have this insurance, you’ll have the resources to pay for the best treatment.
Specialized cover (Eg: Heart/Cancer plan): This can be taken in case you have a family history of certain specific diseases. For example, if all the previous generations have had cardiac ailments, it is prudent to buy a special heart/cardiac insurance plan for yourself, since you are at high risk for a cardiac ailment. (While we are at it, it is also prudent to take care of yourself and ensure that you stay fit, don’t have cholesterol and your heart stays healthy). Please note, that the Critical Illness plan discussed in point 3 does cover issues like heart problems and cancer. So this is a subjective call that you should take - whether you want to opt for a generic critical illness cover or a specialized one, or both. However, either of these two must be taken. And like I mentioned, both of these cost less than Rs. 1,000 per month, so it’s a wise investment :)
Well, that’s it for today! Hope your Sunday morning read was worth it! Please feel free to reach out in case you have any questions - just reply to this e-mail with your query :)
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