Mumbai: An increasing pace of life and a high level of stress are the major factors affecting health today. The huge medical bills can be a major drain on resources in the event of any critical illness, especially if the earning member of the family were to be affected.

Keeping these factors in mind, Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI) has launched Birla Sun Life Medicare Plans, which combine the security of life insurance with health-related protection. Both plans are very affordable.

Says BSLI CEO Nani Javeri: "At Birla Sun Life Insurance, we understand how important it is for you and your loved ones to have the security of a life insurance plan coupled with critical illness protection. This is exactly why we are launching a highly-affordable life insurance plan with health-related protection."

There are two plan options available as under:

Option 1: The first option is a combination of a term plan and the critical illness benefit and it works as follows:
If the life insured is to suffer from any of the critical illnesses as covered under the plan, then the entire face amount of the critical illness benefit becomes payable to him/her. The base term plan continues till its maturity which means that in the unfortunate event of the policyholder's death during the tenure of the plan, the face amount of the term plan is payable additionally to the nominee.

This plan is available in two terms - 20 years and 25 years. The 20-year plan is available to individuals between the ages of 25 and 45 years while the 25-year plan is available to individuals between the ages of 25 and 40 years. It is a highly affordable plan as illustrated below:

Example: Let us suppose a 25-year-old male purchases the base plan for a face amount of Rs 5,00,000 along with the critical illness rider (optional) for a face amount of Rs 5,00,000 and the waiver of premium rider (optional). The annual premium payable for a 20-year term is only Rs 3653.

Option 2: The second option also works similarly where the critical illness benefit is paid if the life insured were to suffer from any of the critical illnesses. The difference in this option is that the premium that the customer pays on the base term plan is paid back in addition to the face amount in case of death. At maturity, 100 per cent of the premiums paid by the policyholder are paid back to him. The benefits of the plan can be tabulated as under:

PB - Premium Back - Does not include any rider / extra premiums paid

The benefit periods available under the premium back plan are 15 and 20 years. Both the benefit-period options are available to individuals between the ages of 25 and 45 years.

Advantages of the BSLI Medicare plans
The key advantages under the plans are the high face amount at an affordable cost and the simplicity of administration. The benefit under the critical illness rider is paid in full to the customer on the diagnosis of any of the four critical illnesses covered under the rider once the life insured survives the specified illness for a period of at least 30 days from the date of diagnosis.