So what is Zurich Early Care Critical Illness all about?
With Zurich Early Care Critical Illness, you will receive a payout on early diagnosis of major medical conditions such as cancer, a rehabilitation or 'get-well' benefit, along with a second medical opinion allowance for both early and advanced-stage illnesses.
Okay, who can apply for this critical illness insurance?
Anyone between 14 days old to 60 years old can purchase this critical illness insurance plan as a rider to supplement a regular premium investment-linked plan.
Tell me more about the second medical opinion benefit in this Zurich insurance?
If you're not sure that you should go for that surgery or treatment - you can request a lump sum benefit of RM2,000 to enable you to choose a specialist of your choice to access your condition and give you a second opinion.
Please be noted that with this Zurich insurance, your second medical opinion payout can only be given once and covers you up to the age of 85.
There will be no such benefit for diagnosis for Angioplasty and other treatments for major coronary artery diseases.
Will my Zurich Early Care Critical Illness payout differ if I claim at a later stage of illness?
Yes, of course - this is not uncommon for critical illness insurance.
For an end stage critical illness, Zurich Early Care Critical Illness will give you up to 100% of your sum assured, payable upon diagnosis.
BUT, provided only if you have not claimed for early stage illnesses before. End stage critical illness will be covered up to age 100.
For an early diagnosis of a severe medical condition, you will receive only 50% of your sum assured upon diagnosis. This is by no means a small amount.
For example, if your initial sum assured is RM300,000, you will stand to receive RM150,000 to facilitate your recovery and daily expenses.
This critical illness insurance benefit will cover you up to age 85.
What is the rehabilitation benefit?
On top of your early or end-stage payout, Zurich Early Care Critical Illness also gives you a rehabilitation benefit worth an extra 12% of your sum assured.
This isn't paid out in one go. Instead, you'll receive it as 12 monthly instalments of 1% each, meant to help cover your recovery period and day-to-day expenses while you're not working.
Using the same RM300,000 sum assured example from before, that works out to RM36,000 in total, or RM3,000 a month for a year.
This benefit can only be claimed once, and covers you up to age 85. Do note that if your claim is for an Angioplasty procedure, you won't be eligible for this benefit; the same exclusion applies to the Second Medical Opinion benefit above.
