I have a basic ci plan that covers 37 critical illnesses. i am thinking if i should get more comprehensive. what are some of common CIs that are not covered by the 37 CIs that I may need to consider?

Hi anon,

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Without speculating too much about the exact plan you have, if your plan was bought within the past 10 years, your scope of CI coverage should follow the 37 critical illnesses that have been defined since around 2014.

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The list is here https://www.lia.org.sg/media/2160/mu5819-part-2...

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Do note your definitions may not follow the 2019 definitions if it was bought before 26th Aug 2020.

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However do note that the following are covered:

1. Alzheimer's disease
2. Parkinson's disease
3. Aortic surgery (open chest)
4. Loss of speech (must be irreversible)
5. Major organ transplant
6. Motor neuron disease
7. Primary pulmonary hypertension
8. Major cancers

Medically they must meet the standard definitions laid out by LIA.

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As for CI's that aren't in the list, consider some of the follow diseases/illnesses that current generation of policies would cover but aren't listed by LIA as a 'Critical Illness' per se. (but will definitely impact your life if it should happen to you)

• Acute Necrohemorrhagic Pancreatitis
• Adrenalectomy for Adrenal Adenoma
• Chronic Auto-Immune Hepatitis
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
• Ebola
• Eisenmenger’s Syndrome
• Elephantiasis
• Infective Endocarditis
• Medullary Cystic Disease
• Meningeal Tuberculosis
• Multiple Root Avulsions of Brachial Plexus
• Myasthenia Gravis
• Necrotising Fasciitis
• Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
• Resection of the Whole Small Intestine (duodenum, jejunum and ileum)
• Severe Cardiomyopathy
• Severe Pulmonary Fibrosis

Of course, the next thing would be the severity of the disease. Your current policy is likely to only pay out when the illness is severe enough. Current generation of policies are meant to pay out at the early stages (hence early CI). That's something that you might want to give a thought about, along with the possibiltiy of recurrent CIs.

Some common critical illnesses that are not covered by the typical 37 critical illnesses include:
1. Alzheimer's disease

2. Parkinson's disease

3. Aortic surgery

4. Loss of speech

5. Major organ transplant

6. Motor neuron disease

7. Primary pulmonary hypertension

8. Certain Cancers (E.g. Skin cancer (non-melanoma), All tumours in the presence of HIV infection)
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These are just a few examples of critical illnesses that may not be covered by a basic plan but are worth considering if you are questioning whether your current critical illness plan has sufficient coverage.