The dreadful reality of being diagnosed with Critical Illness is something we hope no one ever has to face. It’s not only stressful on your health, but can also be taxing on your wallet as well. Usually, when one has a serious illness, they would like to have the option of taking a leave from work, and not just for a few days but for a number of years. During this time, you would have to rely on your critical illness insurance payout, your savings, or both.
That’s why it’s crucial that you get critical illness coverage. However, if you’re trying to decide between different critical illness plans, you would know that there are two primary types: early-stage and late-stage critical illness insurance plans.
This article will compare the two to help you determine whether or not a late-stage critical illness plan is just enough for protection.
What is critical illness?
Insurance companies use a variety of terms to describe what is commonly referred to as a critical illness (CI), including dread disease and terminal illness.
Major cancer, strokes with lasting neurological deficits, and heart attacks of a certain severity level fall into this category. New critical illness criteria were announced by the Life Insurance Association Singapore (LIA Singapore) last year, which took effect on 26 August 2020. According to LIA, the following are the 37 critical illnesses that are covered by CI insurance:
Insurance for early critical illness vs. insurance for late-stage critical illness
A subset of late-stage critical illness that manifests early on is known as early critical illness (ECI). This means anything that’s included in CI will also be included in ECI. The primary distinction between CI and the ECI plan is that the latter only provides coverage for less severe diseases.
It may seem like ECI is the superior option right now. However, this comes with a far higher cost than its counterpart. The question you have to answer is whether the additional cost of ECI coverage is reasonable or not. Which statistic will best support the ECI strategy? These will be revealed later on in this article.
What is a major cancer?
Finding an overarching number to back this up can be challenging, so we’ll instead investigate on Cancer, the most common serious illness in Singapore.
Stage 0 cancer is much less lethal than later stages of the disease. However, it might be difficult to tell what is covered by CI and what is only covered by ECI based on the stages alone. The uncontrolled growth of malignant cells, infiltration of neighboring tissues, and destruction of normal organs and tissues characterize a malignant tumor as described by the Life Insurance Association Singapore (LIA).
Cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, and sarcoma fall within this category. The definition established by LIA is universally adopted by the insurance industry. On the other hand, certain exceptions are shown here.
Coming from a non-medical background, it can be difficult to visualize what is claimable under CI. To simplify things, consider what is not included in the term. The non-invasive and carcinoma-in-situ subsets of the exclusion will be our primary emphasis here.
The term “non-invasive cancer” describes malignancies that do not metastasize (spread) beyond the affected area. The description of cancer’s distinct phases suggests that this case falls into stage 1. Carcinoma in situ, on the other hand, is considered to be a stage 0 cancer.
Cancer Stage Statistics
Based on the foregoing, it seems likely that only those having ECI coverage who have been diagnosed with stage 0 or stage 1 cancer will be able to file a claim under the CI definitions. So, let’s check out some data on how far down the spectrum cancer typically is.
Coming from a non-medical background, it can be difficult to visualize what is claimable under CI. To simplify things, consider what is not excluded in the term. For instance, both the non-invasive and carcinoma-in-situ subsets of the exclusion can be the primary emphasis here.
Source:nrdo.gov.sg
The table above shows how the timing of cancer detection differs across cancer types. When looking specifically at breast cancer (inside 2018-2019), the most prevalent disease among women, you will notice that 56% of all cases were discovered at stage 1.
It has also been noted that most cancer is being diagnosed earlier. Among men, the percentage of early-stage prostate cancer diagnoses has increased from 1% in 2003-2007 to 14.7% in 2018-2019.
The current trend, combined with advances in medicine, suggests that earlier diagnoses of cancer are on the rise. (this is excellent news since full recovery is more likely to be expected sooner than it is detected).
Conclusion
In the event of a critical illness, a late-stage critical illness plan will help you financially so that you may focus on getting better rather than working. Nonetheless, this is something that may openly be asserted only in the last phases. Since early detection is becoming more common, it is vital to obtain early critical illness (ECI) insurance. Most importantly, you would like to file the claim as soon as feasible and, if necessary, have the option to focus solely on your recovery.