This is the first insurance company in India to offer such a feature.
Private life insurer Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance has launched a product called “health shield”, a heart and cancer insurance solution. The product also has a term-trigger benefit where the insurer will offer a term cover in case a major form of cancer is detected.
This is the first insurance company in India to offer such a feature.
The product provides cover for all types of cancer and 17 cardiac conditions. Depending on their needs, a customer can opt for a cover only for cancer, only heart diseases or both the ailments.
Sumit Rai, MD & CEO, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance said, “We want to be anticipative and recognise the unarticulated needs of our customers. The term trigger benefit is in line with this aim, and seeks to provide a comprehensive protection to our customers.”
Term-trigger benefit is an optional feature available under the cancer variant of the plan. In case of detection of a major condition of cancer, the insurer extends a term cover to the policyholder in addition to the lump sum pay out.
A recent study conducted by Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance shows, while the survival rate of patients is promising in the first year post late stage detection, it declines drastically following five years of diagnosis. While 45 percent patients survive one year of diagnosis of a major condition, only 11 percent live beyond five years.
Additionally, buying an insurance at that stage becomes a cumbersome process. The term-trigger benefit is aimed at providing a sense of financial security to the individual’s loved ones and alleviate any financial concerns the policyholder may have for their loved ones.
The product also has the return of premium feature, which allows the policyholder to recover all unclaimed premiums from the insurer on maturity.
“With incidences of critical illnesses increasing, we don’t want customers to stay away from buying critical illness plans on account that they would lose their money in the event that they do not have to claim it,” Rai added.
The study also showed that cancer care can cost anywhere between Rs 4 lakh-14 lakh, depending on the stage of detection. More importantly, a whopping 75 percent of patients are either uninsured or insured inadequately to meet these treatment costs.
Health Shield+ offers a fixed pay-out on the diagnosis of minor and major conditions of cancer and heart diseases, and a waiver of premium for five years from the date of diagnosis. This is for both the first and second minor condition of these ailments.
