What is the difference between Health Plan and Critical illness plan?

In this fast paced life, everybody wishes to grow on their salaries and assets. A biker would dream of buying a four-wheeler, while a guy with a four-wheeler may dream of travelling to exotic places. It is during this rush for things that they forget one small mantra; your health is your greatest wealth. And ironically, you require wealth when your health is in peril. This is where Health Plans and Critical Illness Plans come to your aid.

The Difference Explained

Consider a simple situation of a biker who happened to meet with an unfortunate accident. This man comes from a humble background and cannot afford a hefty sum of Rs 5 lac required to fit his damaged knee back. Consider another situation wherein this man had insured his capital in a Health Plan. The Health Plan would ensure that this man is treated for his knee, all for less or no burden on his pocket depending on the type of plan he chooses. In short, Health Plans have your back if you are injured or happen to fall ill.

Falling ill is a very general term. A person suffering from common cold is termed as ill; so is another person with cancer. Critically ill people are those people who suffer from life-threatening illness such as cancer, kidney failure, heart attack, paralysis etc. The Critical Illness Plan is exactly what the former plan is not.

Health Plans basically take care of your hospital bills. The company issuing health plans either pays out directly to the hospital or reimburses the money spent on the treatment. Critical Illness Plans provide you with a lump sum of the insured money after the insured patient is detected of any critical illness. Most Critical Illness Plan comes a survival period clause. Survival period is the duration that the insured has to survive(14-30 days), after being detecting of the particular critical illness. It is after this period that the insured will receive his premium benefits.

One interesting benefit of Critical Illness Plans is that it could act as a 'secondary income source' when the insured is ill and is on the recovery road. Apart from that, the amount that one receives is totally tax-free. Besides, the cost of the premium remains the same, which saves the trouble of calculating newer premium rates and their interests every year.

A Common Path

A Health Plan and a Critical Illness Plan, both have benefited the general public on a greater scale. Despite their common goal, they follow two diversified paths only to merge at one. A Health Plan is a must. So is a Critical Illness Plan. If your Health Plan has provisions for it, try to obtain the Critical Illness Plan as an add-on, which would prove to be a cheaper option. A wiser move as this will surely introduce a new saying: Wealth indeed supplements Health.