One thing that makes critical illness
insurance unique is that it was not created by an insurance company, but by a
world-famous heart surgeon, Dr. Marius Barnard. He was part of the team, headed
by his brother, Christian Barnard, that successfully performed the first human
heart transplant.
Dr. Barnard was practicing medicine in South
Africa, and saw that, with the changes taking place in medicine, when a
critical illness struck he was able to heal his patient physically, but the
financial stress that accompanied cancer, heart attack and stroke was killing
his patients.
Dr.
Barnard saw that the financial stress that accompanied cancer, heart attack and
stroke was killing his patients.
His thought was that critical illness
protection would work similarly to a life insurance policy and pay a lump sum
upon diagnosis of the critical illness. Critical illness insurance was
introduced in South Africa in 1983, and is now sold in more than 60 countries
around the world.
You are probably wondering, “Why critical
illness insurance now? Why haven’t I heard more about it before?” The reason is
that, thanks to great doctors and incredible advances in medicine and medical
technology, people today survive the cancers, heart attacks, strokes, etc.,
that would have killed us a generation ago.
For example, a good friend of mine, Keith, has
a client who is 38 years old. Keith’s client was running on a treadmill at a
gym when he experienced a heart attack. Twelve people called 911. The
woman on the treadmill next to him walked over, grabbed the defibrillator from
the wall, and applied it.
Think about it. If this client had had such a
heart attack 15 years ago, how many gyms would have had defibrillators? How many
of the other people in the gym would have had cellphones to dial 911 to get
paramedics there immediately?
Same Question, Different Answer
The question is, what’s the right insurance
product for cancer, heart attack or stroke? When I started in the insurance
business 35 years ago, the answer to that question was life insurance. At that
time, very few people survived a critical illness.
This reminds me of a story about Albert
Einstein. His teaching assistant came into his office, panic stricken. The assistant
said, “Professor Einstein, the questions on this year’s exam are the same as
last year’s!”
Einstein replied, “No problem, because the
answers are different.”
Consumers still want to know what the right
insurance product is to protect against critical illnesses such as cancer,
heart attack and stroke. The question is the same, but the answer has changed.
A person still needs life insurance, but he or she also needs critical illness
insurance.
To quote Dr. Barnard: “You need critical
illness protection not because you are going to die, but because you are going
to survive.”
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