How Important it is for a Diabetic to Have a Term Insurance Plan?

Can Diabetic Patient Avail a Term Insurance Plan?

The alarming rate of increasing diabetes patients in India has been a matter of concern for most Indian families. India with a record of 72.96 million diabetes cases in the adult population, stands as the second-highest country in the world with diabetes cases. The increasing rate of diabetics is mainly due to modern lifestyle that includes unhealthy diet plans, and inactive lifestyle choices. If you're suffering from any critical illness or diabetes and want to ensure your family's financial needs when you will not be around, purchasing a Term Insurance Plan will be an admirable decision.

Why does a Diabetic Need Term Insurance?

Term Insurance Plans in India for Diabetics are insurance plans that cover the financial needs of the diabetic individual and their family members during unfortunate circumstances.  These term insurance plans offer a lump sum amount as a death benefit on the policyholder’s demise. However, these diabetic term insurance plans are far more affordable than Life Insurance Plans.

Term Insurance Plans in India for diabetes have premium charges based on the policy seeker's profession, age, health history, and additional benefits availed by them. In the inevitable circumstances, individuals often find it hard to arrange for financial expenses. These are the times when these term insurance plans come to aid. 

Coverage of Term Insurance Plans for Diabetics 

If your diabetes is under control by making comparatively better lifestyle choices, purchasing Term Insurance will not be a problem. However, there are specific reasons for buying a term plan that you must know before submitting your application. Following are the reasons why a diabetic’s person should buy a Term Insurance Plan:

• Financial Coverage: Even though diabetes is a manageable disease, the risk of going through unfortunate circumstances is still higher than a person diagnosed with diabetes. Therefore, securing your family members' financial needs during your absence is why you should buy a Term Insurance Plan as a diabetic patient.
• Tax Benefits: Income Tax Act Section 80C of 1961 allows you to avail yourself of tax benefits of the maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh for a particular financial year. This tax benefit is eligible on Term Insurance Plans, and it also involves the Term Plans for diabetics. Therefore, besides securing your family's needs in your absence, additional tax benefits are a considerable reason for purchasing a Term Insurance Plan. 

(*Tax benefits are subject to change as per the prevailing tax laws. Standard T&C apply)

• Critical Illness Rider: Term Insurance Plans often offer you a rider benefit of critical illness. However, in the Indian insurance market, diabetes is not treated as a critical illness. But diabetes can lead to several secondary illnesses that can be treated as critical and dire. So purchasing a suitable Term Insurance with a critical illness rider is a good call for people with diabetes.
• Affordability: Term Insurance Plans purchased from a reliable and efficient insurer can prove affordable with a high credibility rate. Life Insurance Plans like Endowment Plans and ULIPs are comparatively more expensive than Term Insurance Plans. So affordability is another reason you should purchase a Term Insurance Plan if you are a diabetes patient.

What are the Various Term Plans Available for Diabetics?

There are several Term Insurance Plans in the Indian insurance market that will suit individuals diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetic people need not feel left out when it comes to procuring term insurance to secure their lives or the lives of their families. Generally, these plans by various insurance companies in India provide ample coverage that ranges from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 2. 5 crore.  It becomes important to ensure your family’s financial security. In this regard, one should try to purchase this type of term insurance plan at the earliest.

Benefits of Term Insurance Plan

Term Insurance Plans are the most affordable life insurance plans available in the Indian market. Certain features make the plan the most popular among the policy-seekers. However, some features that will be beneficial for diabetes patients will be mentioned below:

• Cost-effective Plan: The regular medicines and treatments for diabetes cost enough, and an expensive insurance plan on top of that will be a financial burden for the policyholder. Therefore, Term Insurance Plans in these situations are the most cost-effective and reliable policies.
• Monthly Pay-out in addition to Lump Sum Amount: The pay-out option can be selected and will determine the type of financial security that you will be availing themselves of during your absence. You can get two options under the monthly pay-out features of Term Insurance Plans – Fixed Monthly Income Plan and Increased Monthly Income Plan.
• Critical Illness Rider: For a policy-seeker diagnosed with diabetes, this feature will be beneficial. Diabetes is often not treated as a dire illness, but this condition can lead to future illness. Upon getting diagnosed with a critical illness, the policyholder or the beneficiary will get a lump-sum amount that can be used for the medical treatments.

Who All are Eligible to Buy Term Insurance?

The regulations and criteria for applying for a Term Insurance Plan as a diabetic may differ from one insurance provider to another. Most of the cases in which a person with diabetes applies for Term Insurance usually deal with some health check-ups and verify the applicant's current health condition. 

If the applicant's diabetes is maintained or is kept under control for more than 6 months to 12 months, then purchasing a Term Insurance Plan will be no big deal. Besides this, patients who respond well to the treatments for curing diabetes will also have a high chance of being offered the Term Insurance Plan. Following are some of the standard eligibility criteria for a diabetes patient to follow for purchasing a Term Insurance Plan:

• A diabetes patient with an A1c level up to 8.5 can apply for Term Insurance Plans.
• If the applicant has a fasting blood sugar level of up to 180, the insurance provider will offer the desired insurance.

*However, these criteria are subjected to change.

Does the Insurer Require a Pre-policy Medical Screening?

Before proceeding with the purchasing process, the insurer may ask the applicants to undergo a pre-policy medical check-up. This medical screening will usually verify your current health condition, risk factors still present, age, and other risks for future illness. The insurer will verify these factors and will decide whether to proceed with the application or not. However, a pre-policy medical screening is not a mandatory check-up based solely upon the insurance provider and their guidelines.

However, even if the insurance provider does not ask for a pre-policy medical screening, the applicant must submit a health declaration. This declaration will help the insurer re-check and understand that the applicant is not concealing any health problems and is purely authentic before offering them the benefits of Term Insurance.

Premiums for Term Insurance for Diabetics

Now that we have crystal clear ideas about the eligibility criteria and medical screening process, it is essential to know the premium charges of your desired Term Insurance Plan and whether being a diabetic will affect it.

First of all, even if diabetes is not treated as a critical and dire illness like cancer, stroke, or kidney failure, being a patient with diabetes still has some risk factors. Therefore, the insurance provider will scrutinize these risk factors. Then, they will offer the insurance depending upon determining the risk rate they will be undertaking if they offer diabetic term insurance. 

Secondly, these risk factors often affect the premium charges, and diabetics tend to pay more premium charges than an applicant with no diabetes. For instance, Type 2 diabetes patients are more likely to pay fewer premium charges than Type 1 diabetes patients. However, the most crucial factor affecting the premium charged will be the applicant's health condition, and the ability to maintain their health is comparatively better. 

How to Buy Term Insurance Plans Online?

There are generally two methods of purchasing Term Insurance – online and offline. The most user-friendly method out of the two is purchasing the Term Insurance online. An applicant can follow the below-mentioned steps for purchasing a Term Insurance online:

• Visit the insurer’s official website.
• Search for online services.
• Click on Term Insurance.
• Search for “Buy Online” or “Purchase Online”
• Enter the sum assured
• Choose the insurance term and premium paying option.
• Select the bank for making the premium payments.
• Upload required documents for e-verification.
• Upon approval, the insurer will mail a soft copy of the policy purchase to the registered email id.

For the purchase of any of these plans, the customers will need a set of documents, which are as follows: KYC Documents (AADHAAR Card, Voter ID Card, or Passport) for address and age verification, Health Declaration Reports, Medical Screening Report (if asked for by the insurer), employment details in the form of salary slips, and passport-sized photos of the person getting insured under the policy.

Does Term Insurance for Diabetes Cover Everything?

As mentioned earlier, there are no fixed rules or criteria for people with diabetes to purchase a Term Insurance Plan. But that does not mean that it becomes similar to your regular term insurance or health insurance policy. However, the following are some situations that will be considered as exclusion:

• The risk associated with obesity
• Heart Disease
• High Blood Pressure
• Smoking Habits

The risk rates associated with the circumstances mentioned above for a person with diabetes can lead to denial of the application.