Even if your clients have the best health plan, it will not cover 100% of your medical expenses in the event they are diagnosed with a critical illness. This is where critical llness coverage can be a great help to your clients.
Nearly two thirds of bankruptcies are the direct result of medical expenses and unbelievably 78% of those filing already had health insurance. As stated earlier, due to the advancement in medical technology, we are more likely to survive a critical illness.
Peace of Mind
The benefit clients receive from this insurance can be used to pay monthly out-of-pocket expenses, such as the mortgage payment, deductible and coinsurance on your health plan, auto payment, and other vital monthly expenses. Having a critical illness plan will help protect the client's savings account and other investments if they are diagnosed with a critical illness. If clients do not have to worry about depleting their savings account or wondering where the money is coming from to pay the bills, they are going to be able to focus on their treatments and recovery. Critical Illness insurance provides peace of mind. Providing that benefit to your clients is priceless and will also likely lead to policy renewals.
The End of Spaghetti Fundraisers
All of us have probably attended at least one "spaghetti fundraiser" in order to support to a family that couldn’t afford their medical or household bills because their loved one was being treated for a critical illness? The hardest part to believe is that most of these patients had major medical insurance and they still needed help with their bills. This is why critical illness insurance is necessary. If these individuals had critical illness insurance when they were diagnosed with their illness, there would be no need for these fundraisers.
What is Critical Illness Insurance?
Critical illness plans are a variety of voluntary benefit plans that employers can offer. Critical Illness coverage can include such illnesses as cancer, kidney disease, heart attack and stroke. Some plans also cover other illnesses, such as paralysis, coma, Alzheimer’s Disease, just to name a few. Plans vary by company. This benefit payment can be used to pay out-of-pocket medical expenses or monthly household expenses. These choices are up to the client.
History of Critical Illness Insurance
Critical Illness insurance was created in 1983 by Dr. Marius Barnard, a cardiac surgeon, in South Africa. Dr. Barnard witnessed the financial hardship that his patients suffered when they were treated with a critical illness. He saw the need for an insurance to pay a living benefit to offset the patient’s lost income during recovery. The first Critical illness policy was launched in South Africa. The United Kingdom, Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan and East Asia soon followed. Critical illness insurance continues to grow in popularity in the United States but lags far behind in comparison.
Why Is CI Insurance Not as Popular in the U.S.?
The consumer is not aware that this insurance is available to them. Also, there are many insurance agents that do not recommend this insurance because they do not fully understand the benefit that this insurance provides.
Why It Is Important
With today’s advanced medical technology, we are more likely to survive a critical illness. For instance, men have a more than a 1-in-2 lifetime risk of developing cancer while women have a 1-in-3 lifetime risk.
This is why critical illness coverage is so vital, chance are your clients will be impacted and why 2012 is becoming the year of Critical Illness Insurance Awareness
Laura Spencer and Ed Mueller are partners of Life & Health Benefits Solutions LLC and founders of the Critical Illness Support and Awareness Network.
