Why even healthy people in Hong Kong should consider critical illness cover

Living a healthy lifestyle is something we can all strive for. By taking more exercise, eating a balanced diet and avoiding unhealthy habits, like smoking or too much alcohol, we can, in general, enjoy a quality of life and longevity almost unthinkable to previous generations.

However, the most important reason for embracing a healthy lifestyle should be to avoid falling victim to a critical illness. According to the Centre for Health Protection, the three biggest medical causes of death in our city are cancer, pneumonia and heart disease. Other killer conditions include stroke and diabetes.

Many of these illnesses arise as the result of unhealthy lifestyles, and can be avoided by taking steps to lose weight and cut out bad habits. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes, critical illnesses are genetic and, unfortunately, cannot be avoided – despite best intentions.

As such, many people in Hong Kong look to ensure they are covered by insurance in the event of being diagnosed with a critical illness. Many assume they will be covered by their existing medical insurance without realising they need to acquire specific critical illness coverage as well.

First of all, it’s important to discern between critical illness insurance and healthcare insurance plans. In simple terms, healthcare insurance pays for the cost of treatment for a range of conditions, for minor to serious, and can be comprehensive in their scope or limited to just a few select conditions or scenarios. Critical illness insurance, on the other hand, provides a lump-sum payout upon diagnosis of a wide range of life-threatening condition, as defined in the policy. This lump sum is designed to help you maintain your standard of living throughout the period of illness and your subsequent recovery.  

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide the amount of cover that suits you best. For example, if you have a group medical insurance plan provided by your employer, you might wish to purchase critical illness cover on top as, often, group medical insurance plans only cover limited coverage for specific medical conditions or accidental injuries.
 

To illustrate this, take the case of Mr Wong, a senior manager, who, unfortunately, suffered a heart attack at work. His group medical insurance covered the cost of hospitalisation and initial treatment, but later it was found that his condition was more serious and he would require heart bypass surgery. Luckily, his critical illness plan paid out a lump sum of HK$250,000, which helped cover the cost of surgery and made up for lost income due to several months of recovery required at home.   

In another example, Ms Lai, a woman in her early thirties, is diagnosed with cervical cancer. Unfortunately the cancer is at stage two, so requires ongoing, costly treatment. Cervical cancer treatment is not covered by her current medical insurance, but luckily her critical illness plan does, and her lump sum can be used to offset medical bills as she recovers in the months ahead.    

So no matter how healthy we believe we are, just remember that critical illnesses can and do strike. And while prevention is always better than the cure, this isn’t always possible. So the next best option is to ensure you have adequate critical illness protection.

To find out more about MSIG’s CriticalCare 1.0 plan, visit: https://www.msig.com.hk/en/personal-insurance/criticalcare-10-0

If you have any queries regarding different healthcare insurance plans, please feel free to contact us or find out more about our insurance plan:

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