Does ING "Critical Illness Coverage" (see details) include heart disease OTHER THAN heart attacks?At work, we have the option to get "Premier Critical Illness Insurance" from ING. The brochure says "Heart disease and stroke are the No. 1 and 3 causes of death in the U.S. If survived, they are a leading cause of serious disability." and that the policy covers "stroke", "heart attack", "coma", end-stage kidney failure, "major organ failure", and "permanent paralysis".
Does this cover all heart disease? What if it is neither a heart attack nor a major organ failure?
Are heart attacks and major organ failure alone responsible for heart disease being ranked where it is as a leading cause of death, or is that ranking due to other types of heart disease that are not covered?
If the policy does not cover all heart disease, and the heart disease that is covered (heart attacks and major organ failure) is not the #1 or #3 cause of death, how is it relevant that "Heart disease and stroke are the No. 1 and 3 causes of death in the U.S."?
The brochure makes it sound like the insurance covers the leading cause of death and that the insurance covers two of the three leading causes of death. Does it really cover only the third leading cause and a small subset of the first leading cause?
Answer by Chris C
I don't know about ING's coverage, but typically all of the conditions you've mentioned are amongst the standard conditions covered.
Most good policies will cover ALL of the following:
Heart Attack, Cancer, Stroke, Coma, blindness, alzheimers, Coronary artery Bypass Surgery, deafness, kidney failure, loss of limbs, loss of speach, major organ transplant, ALS (Lou Gehrig's deisease), Multiple Sclorosis, paralisys, parkinsons, severe burns, occupational HIV.
Some will cover even more than that. For example Empire Life's policy also covers Aorta Surgery, and heart valve replacement surgery
As for what types are covered that depends on how the US does things. In Canada, we have standard definitions for all companies throughout Canada. If a company covers heart attacks, that coverage will be the exact same as the next company. Same case goes for Cancer, there are so many forms of cancer that some of the non-life threatening cancers (like early stages prostate cancer), will only result in a partial payout. These definitions are the same from company to company. Other examples of a partial payout would be Coronary angioplasty, HIV related to cancer, or Ductal Carinoma in Situ of the breast.
All compnaies must have a definition guide as to what is covered and what exactly that entails.
My suggestion would be to contact a lisensed insurance broker though. They will have access to multiple companies so they can get you the best coverage on the market.
Finally, I am always leary of banks offering insurance. If this was something offered to you as a mortgage insurance or something to specifically cover your debts (also known as creditor insurance), please do not get it. Go with a stand alone policy from an insurance company. There are several differences, the main one being they don't actually underwrite until the time of claim, which means you could pay into this thing for ever under the assumption that you are covered and still get denied the claim. Here are some links explaining the differences between what the banks offer and what an insurance company offers (these are specific to life insurance, but all forms of insurance in this manor go by the same guidelines whether in Canada, or the US as well)
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/in_denial/
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2007/02/credit_insurance.html
http://www.asset-aid.com/bank_vs.shtml
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