What Is The Survival Period In Health Insurance?

The recent changes in the daily lifestyle of individuals has made people become more vulnerable to life-threatening diseases like chronic diseases. Health insurance plans are the saviours when it comes to having financial aid for the compensation of the medical dues incurred during hospitalization in case of a medical emergency. The health insurance providers offer different types of health insurance plans to support the people in various medical conditions. Before investing in a health insurance plan, one must carefully analyze their requirements and then buy a plan. Based on factors like your age, sum assured, financial budget, pre-existing diseases, and much more, you can choose a suitable health insurance plan for yourself and your loved ones.

Critical illness health insurance plans offer financial backup to the individuals in case of a medical emergency due to a critical illness like diabetes, stroke, heart ailment, hypertension, lung diseases, and a lot more. Under such critical illness plans, around 32 chronic diseases are covered by the health insurance provider. These plans offer compensation to the people along with other perks like no claim bonus, discounts, tax savings, lump sum claims, etc. A critical illness health insurance plan comes with a survival period, under which the patient has to survive for a certain period of time as specified by the insurer, before getting the coverage of the purchased health insurance policy.

About Survival Period

Survival period of a critical illness health insurance plan is the time frame that the patient must survive after getting diagnosed with the critical illness to receive the claim on the purchased health insurance policy. This period lasts from 14 to 30 days depending on the medical condition of the policyholder. Under the critical illness plans, the health insurer pays the claim amount in lump sum to the policyholder. This claim amount can be used by the insurer to compensate for the medical expenses and to also look after the income loss incurred due to the treatment of the critical illness. If the patient does not survive the survival period, then the insurer does not have to make any payment as there is no death benefit under this health insurance plan.

Must Read: Tips To Ensure Smooth Claim Settlement Process

How Is The Survival Period Different From The Waiting Period?

Survival period is the time period that the policyholder must survive after the diagnosis in order to claim the critical illness plan; however, the waiting period is the time frame that the policyholder must wait for before claiming a health insurance plan. The survival period is shorter than the waiting period. The waiting period can range from 30 days to 4 years while a survival period is usually for 14-30 days. Also, the survival period is found under critical illness plans only while waiting period is applicable on all types of health insurance plans.

Do You Get A Return On Premium For Not Surviving The Survival Period?

Most of the critical illness health insurance providers do not offer a return on premium for not surviving the survival period of the health insurance plan. There are no death benefits on a lot of critical illness health insurance plans that are available in the market. Return on the premium is the refund of the premium payments to the policyholder’s family on his/her death.

Should The Survival Period Be Considered While Buying Critical Illness Plans?

A policyholder must carefully consider the survival period of the critical illness health insurance plan before investing in a suitable health insurance policy. You can get a plan with the shortest period of survival so that they can avail the benefits of the plan as early as possible and do not exhaust their savings.

Conclusion

Survival period of a critical illness plan should be as short as possible so that the medical expenses of the critical illness treatment are not borne by the policyholder in case of an emergency.

Also Read: Do’s And Don’ts of Buying a Health Insurance Plan
Disclaimer: This article is issued in the general public interest and meant for general information purposes only. Readers are advised not to rely on the contents of the article as conclusive in nature and should research further or consult an expert in this regard.