The advent of the digital age has made work easier and convenient. But cutting-edge technology has a dark side too. It has brought with itself a sedentary lifestyle, which, in turn, results in a slew of lifestyle diseases.
If you, too, are suffering from a lifestyle disease then you must immediately take two crucial steps: inculcate discipline for a healthy lifestyle and zeroing in on the best life insurance policy. Even if you are young, and do not suffer from a lifestyle disease, considering the magnitude of the prevalence of these diseases, you must consider living a healthy lifestyle, along with getting a life insurance policy.
Understanding lifestyle diseases: Lifestyle diseases are Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), attributed to a stressful professional/personal life and unhealthy habits. These diseases are further aggravated by addictive choices, like tobacco and alcohol. Lifestyle diseases include obesity, cardiovascular ailments, respiratory anomalies, diabetes, hypertension, hormonal disorders, allergies etc. Earlier, these diseases mostly affected the elderly. But, now an increasing percentage of the country's young population is suffering from various lifestyle ailments, cutting short their productive work span and overall age.
The harsh reality: The statistics back this up, and overwhelmingly so. The statistics provided by various reports are startling: 26% of the deaths in India are attributed to heart ailments, while India is on the verge of becoming the global Diabetes capital, with every 12th Indian suffering from high sugar levels. India has 35 million asthma patients, and 1.73 million new cancer cases are detected every year. Of the total number of deaths in India, 61% occur because of lifestyle diseases.
How can a life insurance policy benefit people suffering from lifestyle diseases?
Provides financial succour to your dependents: If you have already been diagnosed with a lifestyle disease, then you must develop a contingency plan, which can provide your family—including spouse, children and elderly parents—with financial support, for when you are not around to provide for them. This is especially crucial for those considered to be the breadwinner of their family. A life insurance policy protects your family from any financial liabilities and allows them to maintain their lifestyle, even in your absence.
Additional rider benefits: If you have already been diagnosed with a lifestyle disease, then you can tailor the life insurance policy to meet your health needs. You can select additional riders which makes the life insurance policy more exhaustive. You can select the terminal illness option, which provides you with a cover against life-threatening ailments and doles out the sum assured payable to your family immediately upon the diagnosis of a terminal disease. You could also opt for a critical illness rider, which provides benefits to you and your family on the diagnosis of a critical illness such as cancer, heart disease, etc.
Choose term insurance: Worried about high premium rates on account of your lifestyle disease? Opt for term insurance. Term insurance is considered to be the cheapest of all life insurance policies. Owing to its inherent affordability, you would still be able to avail of nominal rates, as compared to traditional life insurance policies. Moreover, term insurance plans offer a high sum assured for comparatively lower rates, thus helping you make the most of your insurance policy.
Incentives: Life insurance policies discourage unhealthy habits, such as smoking or drinking, seeing as they can cut short one's lifespan. Thus, certain life insurance policies offer incentives to those who refrain from indulging in such activities. For instance, you are offered lower rates, if you are on in the process of quitting smoking. Complete non-smokers are offered even lower rates. This is a win-win for, both, the insurer as well as the life insured. The life insured is motivated to stay health-conscious and the insurer is assured of lower mortality risk.
How to get a life insurance policy?
With the advent of the internet, getting a life insurance policy policy is now easy. Just compare the various plans online, and visit the insurer's web portal to fill-in the basic details.
Conclusion:Thus, getting a life insurance policy should be a priority, if you are suffering from any lifestyle disease. Investing in a comprehensive insurance plan while still healthy is an even better choice.
You can choose Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce's iSelect+ Term Plan which can provide financial protection to your loved ones with low premium rates. The iSelect+ Term Plan comes with a terminal illness cover, wherein the sum assured becomes payable upon diagnosis of a terminal illness. In addition to that, the plan also comes with a variety of perks such as spousal cover, various types of coverage options (level, increasing and decreasing) and a number of payout options.
