The catastrophe of a critical illness

BY FAZAAD BACCHUS

What if? Just what if you suffered a critical illness, how would you carry on and how would you pay your bills? This question rarely crosses our minds as we go through our daily lives making a living, taking care of our family, planning vacations and saving for retirement and so on. The truth is that no one wishes to get sick, have a heart attack or get cancer, but statistics tell us that 2 out of 3 persons will get cancer before age 70 and this is now frightening.

While no one wants to get sick, no one is also talking about what would happen if they were to get sick. This type of illness, while it doesn’t happen every day, as often as the common cold or aches and pains, when it does come, it is very catastrophic. When something is catastrophic, it means obviously there is a catastrophe in the family. How many people deal well with catastrophes? Not many, this is a very stressful period and it puts many families in disarray and financial hardships.

As I mention financial hardships, let’s talk about that. When a person suffers a critical illness, generally the hospital admits them and takes care of them during the critical stages. Then they are discharged and sent home for the family to take care of them, a family member who can afford to stay at home. Is that easily available here in Canada? I don’t think so! You may need to hire someone to take care of you, perhaps even qualified people like a nurse, where will the money come from to pay? Don’t forget also that when you are discharged from the hospital, your drug bill is now your own. If you have insurance, it’s a blessing, but if you don’t, it’s a bad situation to be in.

Next comes your family commitments, food still has to be put on the table and little Rakesh still has to go to school, soccer games, swimming and every extracurricular that he is enrolled in. Who pays for the food and all the afterschool activities and who will be taking him, your help that you are hoping to get? So little Rakesh has to stop his activities because the family can no longer afford to pay for them and also there is no one to take him.

The major decision though comes from the major household bill, the mortgage. Imagine you are laid up and cannot go to work for a year. In addition to the medical bills, food on the table you now have no idea how the mortgage will be paid. In three months, you are in arrears and you get a letter from the bank. You tell how me how are you expected to recover under such stressful situations? Do you see the predicament that a critical illness situation can bring on for a family?

Fortunately for those who heed my advice, you can buy critical illness insurance, where if you suffer a critical illness you could at least receive one year’s income and that will keep your family afloat. You can also structure your policy where if you don’t make a claim, you get a full refund. Don’t hesitate, get some coverage today.