Critical Illness Protection
In the United States, there are three definitions of critical illness.：
1. Critical Illness: heart disease, stroke, cancer, kidney failure, major organ transplant, muscular dystrophy, double vision, paralysis, and other diseases or conditions that severely shorten life expectancy.
Chronic Illness: A chronic illness that severely affects an insured person's daily life, resulting in the inability to care for oneself. More than two of the six life skills (bathing, toileting, dressing, eating, moving short distances, incontinence), as defined by the U.S. Department of Health, cannot be performed on their own.
Terminal Illness: A diagnosis by a licensed physician that the insured person's life will end in the next 12-24 months as a result of an accident or illness.
Most people think that mandatory health insurance in the U.S. can be used to pay for treatment of serious illnesses, but in fact there are many people who have already lost their families during treatment of their illness. According to statistics, 62% of Americans are bankrupt because they cannot afford to pay their medical bills.
Many life insurance policies in the U.S. have a critical illness claim provision, called Accelerated Benefit Rider, which means that when an insured person has a very serious illness or accident, the insurance company can pay out a portion of the life insurance claim in advance (up to 50%, not to exceed $1 million), and the rest of the claim will be paid to the beneficiary after his or her death. . This includes the above three conditions of critical illness, chronic illness and terminal illness. We usually refer to this type of supplemental insurance as a living benefit.
The living benefit has a wide range of indemnities and this type of rider covers many illnesses, from terminal/chronic illnesses to major diseases. It can also be used as an extension or adjunct to medical insurance. A living benefit is not a direct substitute for medical insurance, but it does allow the insured to receive additional insurance claims to provide for expenses other than medical costs in the event of a specific illness. In this case, the risk of additional expenses or reduced income caused by future illness can be transferred to the insurance company. For an insured person without children, transferring the death benefit for use during life allows the insurance to truly be used for its own benefit.
