Dread Disease insurance is also called Critical Illness insurance, or Specified Disease insurance. Each of these names is referring to the same kind of insurance. It is a secondary, or supplemental, insurance policy that can help to cover the medical expenses that are due to a particular serious illness.
This kind of insurance is not a replacement for more comprehensive insurance. It covers a very limited amount of things, and only under very specific circumstances. Dread Disease insurance provides extra coverage that goes along with your primary health insurance. Most people choose to get this type of insurance if they have a family history that includes many people who have had the same serious disease. Others will start a Dread Disease insurance policy “just in case” they have cancer, or a heart attack, because they fear that the medical bills associated with those diseases will be more expensive than they can handle, and will place an extreme financial burden on their family.
What kinds of illness does this type of insurance cover? Most will cover cancer, but many will not cover skin cancers that are non-invasive. It covers heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, major organ transplants, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, paralysis, blindness, brain tumors and brain surgery, heart valve replacement, and more. It may cover medical care related to Alzheimer’s. Most will cover illnesses that are terminal. Many of these policies will not cover early stage prostate symptoms, lymphomas, AIDS or HIV, drug abuse, or injuries that were self-inflicted.
Keep in mind that each insurance company is going to have it’s own definition of what does, and does not, qualify for coverage. This is why it is very important to have a primary health insurance policy, along with the Specified Disease insurance. Some policies, for example, will cover the cost of a hospital stay for someone who has cancer, but will refuse to cover the cost of medication needed due to an infection that the person got from being in the hospital. Read over your policy very carefully, to be certain of it’s limitations.
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