Critical Illness Insurance, the new kid on the block

It sure seems like I know a lot of people that have been diagnosed with cancer. Family members, family friends, famous stars, professional athletes, it seems no one is immune. If there is any good news it is that many people are surviving after bouts with cancer.

But have you ever considered the financial costs associated with cancer? Sure you have health insurance to pay your hospital bills, maybe even disability insurance to pay your on going expenses. But what about the expenses you didn't have before cancer? Maybe there's a treatment out there that your health insurance won't pay for? What about long stays in hospitals far away from home? It is said over 65% of the cost of cancer treatment is not covered by health insurance.

What about strokes? Heart attacks? Motor neuron diseases? What about severe accidents that cause paralysis? Or severe burns? Blindness? Even deafness?

Modern medicine has saved people that thirty years ago would have died. We have helicopters and jets that can fly us to the best hospitals all over the country in a matter of hours. Even the invention of the seat belt has saved lives that would have been lost only a couple of decades ago.

We always read about survival stories. They are great. But what we don't often read about is the financial costs that can devastate people's finances.

The inventor of critical illness insurance wasn't an insurance executive, or an insurance agent, or an insurance actuary. No, critical illness insurance was invented by Dr. Marius Barnard who assisted his brother with the first heart transplant in 1968. He was saving lives only to find out his patients were succumbing to financial devastation. In many cases the financial stress of surviving a critical illness would end up killing the patient.

Think about someone that has survived invasive cancer or someone that has survived a stroke. Do you think a lump sum check for $100,000, or $50,000 or even $10,000 would have helped?

I'll write more about critical illness insurance as I think it is critical!