Our hectic lifestyles today are a far cry from what they used to be when things moved at a slower pace. Today, we’re constantly inundated with work alerts, instant messages, and even shopping discounts on our digital devices. What’s worse, working from home means we spend even more time in front of a computer screen. This sedentary lifestyle, combined with unhealthy dietary habits such as consuming processed foods regularly, could leave us susceptible to long-term health risks.

The rise in medical costs may have prompted you to purchase medical insurance, but did you know that you can complement your health insurance portfolio with a critical illness (CI) plan that provides you with coverage a medical card does not? 

While it is always important to make an effort to improve our lifestyle, it is also worth looking at a back-up plan should such health emergencies arise. Critical illness insurance provides additional coverage if you are diagnosed with one of many critical illnesses such as heart attack, stroke, or cancer. Besides that, there are a number of advantages that make critical illness insurance worth getting.

1) Financial Support For More Than Just Medical Costs

There are two common misconceptions about CI insurance. One is that it covers hospital bills like medical insurance. The other is that it is expensive.

In reality, critical illness insurance provides a lump sum payout of the sum insured after you are diagnosed with a critical illness. This is different from medical insurance, which only covers medical costs – with a critical illness plan, the payout goes directly to you, providing not just medical treatment protection but also income protection. 

This is an important point to distinguish, because while your existing medical insurance can cover your treatment costs, many critical illnesses can render you unable to work and thus affect you and your family’s livelihood. With a critical illness plan, the payout will ease any worries about providing for your family so you can focus on recovery.

2) Affordable Premiums For Financial Protection  

As mentioned earlier, another misconception people have about critical illness insurance is that it is a costly insurance plan. But compared to other insurance plans, the cost of critical illness insurance is relatively affordable for healthy working adults. The premiums you pay also depend on factors like the amount of critical illnesses covered, and if the plan covers early diagnosis payout.

Critical illness plans can go as low as RM16 a month (for the highest coverage of RM250,000), which easily debunks the myth that it is expensive. Moreover, you can select your coverage to suit your requirements and pay for the protection you need.

On a similar note, if you have a family history of any critical illness, a critical illness plan is a useful tool to hedge against the higher possibility of being diagnosed with one. Remember, the cost of critical illness treatment is substantial and can go up to the hundreds of thousands of Ringgit. Moreover, the road to recovery can take years, wiping out the chances of earning income during that period – so in the long run, a critical illness plan would be a more affordable option.

3) Coverage Focused On Critical Illnesses

In 2016, the Ministry of Health estimated that one out of every four Malaysians will suffer from cancer by the age of 75, and expected the figure to increase year on year. This, combined with the longer expected life expectancy of Malaysians, means that it is imperative that we have a comprehensive health insurance portfolio that will ensure we can get the medical treatment we need and provide income protection if we are unable to work for extended periods.

Therefore, even though you may already have a medical insurance plan, it is highly recommended to consider getting extra protection with a plan that’s focused on critical illnesses.

Introducing The AXA eCritical Early Care 

 

With the growing demand for fully online insurance products, AXA Affin has launched its new AXA eCritical Early Care critical illness insurance plan. It is a fully online CI plan that does not require medical check-ups, and is designed to be one of the most competitively priced CI plans in the market.

Available to Malaysians aged from 15 days to 60 years, the standout feature of the AXA eCritical Early Care CI plan is its affordability: this plan offers protection from just 53 sen per day (RM16 per month), with a maximum of RM250,000 sum assured. 

Besides that, this plan also offers payouts for early diagnosis – which is usually available only on more expensive CI plans. This plan offers a 50% payout of the total sum assured for early diagnosis, which applies to most of the 50 critical illness conditions covered under this plan.

AXA eCritical Early Care is one of the first online CI plans that covers 50 Early and Advanced stage critical illness conditions. 

Find out more about the AXA eCritical Early Care here. 

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• Affordable Premiums
• AXA
• AXA eCritical Early Care
• Critical Illness
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Insurance