Is my Critical illness insurance flexible?
Initially yes your critical illness insurance plan is flexible; you can choose if you want to keep the policy level or decreasing. You can even say what you want the interest rate at which your sum assured decreases by with a mortgage critical illness policy with companies. You can specify the term of the insurance and you can also decide if you want to add any additional extras onto the policy such as TPD of Waiver.
But it is only as inception or at the start that the plan is flexible. Once the policy has started the situation becomes very different, there is no flexibility in the system normally. If you want to change anything you can’t and it would mean taking a fresh policy normally or doing a “top-up”. It is an important decision to make sure that the policy that you take is the right one for you in the first instance. As the older you get and if you decide to change your mind the plan will be a lot more expensive as these things are very age related.
It is also very important to ensure that you choose the correct term from the outset. If you decide to only take a 5 year plan and you then want to take a further 10 years after this initial one has concluded then the price will be far more expensive than when it was initially taken out. If the plan has started it will be hard to modify unless you have paid a larger premium in the first place to allow you to modify it. It is hard for the insurance providers to build flexibility into plans so they are often not, just remember to try and consider everything from the outset.