You can beat cancer. You can survive a heart attack. But can you afford to pay for it?
Medical science has made some truly amazing progress over the last century. Americans are living longer, healthier lives and surviving diseases that only a couple decades ago would have killed them. That's the good news.
The bad news is that while survival rates for most diseases have jumped, so have the medical costs associated with that survival. In fact, according to a 2006 report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, Americans' health care spending grew by 7.9% in 2004. And a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation stated that spending on drugs more than doubled from 1997 to 2003 – rising from $78.9 billion to $179.2 billion.
But studies by the American Cancer Society indicate that the indirect costs of a critical illness can greatly outweigh direct medical costs. This leaves many who suffer critical illnesses like heart attacks, cancer or strokes to pay the indirect costs of survival – costs not covered by their health plans like deductibles and co-pays, treatment outside a provider network and lost income – on their own.
It is a far bigger problem than most people realize. These indirect costs can add up quickly. If you're not prepared financially, it's almost like being punished for surviving. Unfortunately, most traditional insurance plans just don't cover these expenses.
Health insurance pays for things like doctor bills, surgery and traditional treatment, while the insured is responsible for co-pays, deductibles and non-covered procedures. Disability insurance replaces a person's monthly income, but only a portion of it – and benefits don't usually start until after a 30- to 90-day waiting period. For life insurance to pay benefits, a person has to die. And while there are a few "specified disease" policies out there, they pay benefits only for the disease specified
Critical illness insurance – a product relatively new to the U.S. market – fills this protection gap. It pays a cash benefit to a policyholder when they are diagnosed with one of several covered critical illnesses like cancer, heart attack or stroke. The money is paid with no waiting period. And unlike traditional health insurance, it pays directly to the insured.
It's money you can use any way you want, right when you need it most.
Many Americans will have to face a critical illness in their lifetimes. According to the American Cancer Society's 2006 Cancer Facts and Figures report, men in the U.S. have about a 1 in 2 lifetime risk of developing cancer, and U.S. women a 1 in 3 risk. Critical illness insurance gives them a way to pay for it.
The bottom line is, people need critical illness insurance. Once you understand the financial consequences of getting life-threatening cancer, having a heart attack, going blind or suffering kidney failure, there's no way you wouldn't want to protect yourself and your family from these costs.