Mr. Othneil Blagrove, senior manager – sales, JN Life Insurance says there are insurance products available for seniors, contrary to what many persons believe.
The insurance executive explained that seniors can purchase insurance products that can provide them with coverage in years after retirement and that they should consider having a product that protects them against life’s eventualities.
“Having life insurance is important regardless of age,” Mr. Blagrove stated. For seniors, life insurance is just as important because they may not all have dependents, but they all have the need to prepare for the eventuality of dying too soon. A Life Insurance policy is therefore needed to care for all final expenses that are immediately due on death.”
Mr. Blagrove pointed out that one insurance product that can be considered is a critical illness product.
“Critical illness products provide coverage in the event of a major illness such as a heart attack, stroke, cancer or a kidney ailments. Depending on their age, these products can be purchased to cover themselves and other family members or just themselves,” he explained.
“For example, at JN Life, we have the ‘JN Life Aide’ and ‘JN Life Family Aide,’ which offer critical illness insurance coverage for anyone who has never been diagnosed with a critical illness; and a senior, who is 60, would be eligible,” he added.
Mr. Blagrove explained that a critical illness plan is important because treating any critical illnesses could be very costly thus seniors need to be prepared to meet these expenses.
“A critical illness insurance policy will ensure that if you are diagnosed with a covered illness, the amount is available to assist with the treatment. This coverage is offered to persons up to age 60. Therefore, there is an urgent need to get one of these policies before you past this age, he stated.
“These policies normally last for 20 years and have a refund benefit if there is no claim upon expiry. The JN Life Aide which is the individual critical illness policy also has a recurrent benefit. This means that if someone who already has this plan is diagnosed of a covered illness and the claim is paid, the policy may be continued and subsequent claims may be paid in case of a reoccurrence of the critical illness,” he revealed.
The senior manager stated that if someone is more than 60 years old, they can also still benefit from insurance coverage.
“If a senior is already past the age of 60, they may benefit from life insurance plans which can be opened up to age 76. If as a senior, you cannot afford a life insurance policy, you may ask one of your close family members to take out a Family Indemnity Plan (FIP). This plan enables a family member to cover up to five additional close members of their family for one reasonably priced flat fee. The FIP is a whole life insurance plan which provides coverage in the event of death to take care of final expenses,” he explained.
He adds that seniors should however seek advice from an expert before purchasing a policy.
“Every senior should sit with a financial and insurance advisor who is trained to recommend the best insurance plan for you. This would be central to your retirement plan to ensure that you remain covered for all eventualities,” he stated. “What you don’t want is to retire and be concerned about finding funds in the event of illness when you should enjoying the funds that you had put away to enjoy at the stage in your life.”
