By Ngozi Onyeakusi— Experts have urged the general public to leverage insurance to protect their health against critical illness.

According to experts who spoke today at webinar organised by Coronation Life Assurance Limited, with the theme: ‘Safeguarding Your Health: The Importance of Critical Illness Insurance’, the public can access N10 million insurance coverage on critical illness with the sum of N10,000.

Head, Partnership, Coronation Life Assurance Limited
Kehinde Grillo, a panelist at the event said the firm has different range of insurance covers for critical illness with premium as low N10,000 per annum with sum assured of N10 million.

He implored the public to leverage insurance to protect their health against critical illness.

Assistant Director, Underwriting and Marketing (Life Operations) Abdul-Rasheed Akolade, who was the Key Note Speaker, said critical illness insurance is a vital part of an organised arrangement any adult may use in safeguarding his or her health, adding that it provides a lump sum payment if the insured person is diagnosed with any of the critical illness conditions covered in the insurance policy.

He submitted that a critical illness insurance is an insurance product which makes provision for the payment of a certain sum (known as the Sum Assured) in lump sum if the Insured Person is diagnosed with any of the specified critical illness as stated in the policy usually during the term of the policy – and provided that the other requirements under the policy are met.

He maintained that the benefit payable is chosen by the insured person (otherwise referred to as the enrollee), stressing that for ease of administration, the benefit payable by the life office may have a minimum and maximum limit, say between N250,000 and N10,000,000.

According to him, the importance of critical illness insurance are: – Financial protection: It offers adequate financial protection for the insured person.

Peace of mind: It gives a perfect peace of mind to the insured person.

No dependency on the employer nor children, especially after retirement: There is no need to depend on the employer and/or one’s children for funds once critical illness was already in place before being diagnosed for the critical illness conditions.

Flexibility of arrangement: There is a complete flexibility in terms of the benefits and premium payment frequency.

Akolade on claims payment said claims processing requires a comprehensive specialist/doctor’s report, adding that the typical critical illness conditions covered are: Cancer: stroke; heart attack; coronary by pass; major organ transplants and coma.

He said so far, only few Life Offices have commenced transacting critical illness cover as a stand alone policy.

The typical definition of Critical Illness in the policy wording of these two life offices is as below – The cover pays out a lump sum when the insured person/policyholder is diagnosed with certain life-threatening conditions as contained in the policy document. The benefit usually ranges from a lower to maximum range.The policy duration is also in ranges,” he submitted.

Professional Banker, and Financial Advisor, Adekanla Desalu (Deza the Great), called for more awareness on need for insurance, whilst canvassing use of robust technology to drive insurance.

Founder/Managing Director, Tillit MSME Microservices, Dr. Yomi Sule, called for enhancement of health insurance pool to enable wider coverage on insurance of critical illness.