To include cardiac or not? That’s the dilemma you face when putting together a health insurance policy. Many young people, in particular, can’t identify with heart disease. After all, isn’t it something that happens to the “oldies”? The sobering facts are, however, that cardiac problems happen to people of any age.
The adage of “I am too young to worry about that” is, unfortunately, not quite correct. Cardiac problems are becoming increasingly commonplace among people of all ages and from all walks of life. In 2008 alone, the underlying cause of death for 22,874 Australians from the age of 25 upwards was heart disease, including angina, blocked arteries and heart attacks.
Granted, heart problems are more prevalent in older Australians. In fact, heart disease is the biggest killer of people over 65 years of age. However, cardiac cover in health insurance policies is pretty much an essential for everyone, regardless of age because it focuses on the prevention as well as the treatment of heart problems.
We strongly believe cardiac cover should be a compulsory requirement of all policies offered to established family and mature profiles, even more so for people with a family history of heart disease. That’s why CANSTAR has added cardiac cover for the policy to be included in our ratings. Amongst the policies, cardiac cover is weighted the highest when looking at the level of cover each policy offers.
