Get term life insurance before third Covid-19 wave hits

Life insurance is the easiest way to ensure that your family's financial future is secure even in your absence. The last 18 months have seen the world transform in ways that it otherwise takes decades to achieve.Reason: a deadly virus with the potential to wipe out millions of lives. In fact, the deadly COVID-19 virus has already taken away the life of almost 45 Lakh people across the world and infected a total of 21 Crore individuals. And India has not been a different story either. A total of over 3.2 Crore people have already been reported infected by the virus and the number is rising every day. Out of those, almost 4.4 lakh people have died, as per the official figures.

The scale of this crisis has completely shaken the world. And the realization that the pandemic is still ongoing, with more waves of the deadly Coronavirus still expected to hit different countries has made things worse. The third wave of the pandemic has already hit the US and a major part of Europe. And although it is unpredictable, most experts predict the third wave to hit India within a month, and peak in October, with a warning that India is not completely ready to deal with its ramifications.

Another factor that make things scarier is the fact that the intensity of the second wave was much harsher than the first one in India. According to some reports, the number of Covid-related claims in the first quarter of FY22were far higher than in the entire of FY21, indicating the severity of the second wave of the pandemic being much more than the first wave. Moreover, according to a recent study, the second wave of the pandemic impacted the younger population much more than the first wave. Out of all the deaths reported in the country, almost half the people were aged below 60 years, many of them breadwinners of their families.

Of course, putting words to the loss of human life is an aspect the world hasn't completely digested yet. However, good financial planning can surely help circumvent some risk, thereby allowing you to sleep in peace, irrespective of the uncertainty that surrounds us. And this is where term life insurance comes in. A term insurance plan provides your family a huge financial coverage such as 1Crore against premature death at a very small premium like Rs. 500 per month. Basically, in case of death of the policyholder while the policy is active, the nominee will receive the cover amount as death benefit. It is for the policyholder to decide the payout amount that his/her family would receive on the former's death. All that the policyholder has to do is pay a nominal premium at regular intervals. Term insurance is one of the best plans available because it provides a large cover at really affordable premium rates as stated in the above example.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the Coronavirus, especially the impending third wave which is soon expected to hit the country, it makes a lot of sense to buy a lifejacket to sail over the storm so that if anything should happen to you, you can be rest assured that your family would be financially protected and wouldn't have to compromise with its financial goals.

So instead of waiting, one must make definitely purchase a term plan now before the third wave hits. A big reason behind that is also that one would need to go through a physical medical test, or on some cases a tele-medical process, as a pre-requisite condition for buying a term life insurance plan. With the third wave just on the horizon, a delay may make is unviable to go for the physical medical test. Moreover, with the pandemic stretching our health infrastructure to its limits, the time taken for a physical medical test also increases manifold during the lockdowns. With conditions more conducive to get such a medical test now, you may avoid a lot of hassle by buying a term plan now rather than later. And not to add, your protection against an unforeseen mishap would also start sooner. You would not want to end up in a situation where you want to buy term insurance but are not able to proceed with it due to, perhaps, lockdown or just the target risk of stepping out of home due to the third wave's arrival. And by chance if you end up contracting the virus, you may have to wait up to 3months for getting a term plan basis the Insurer guidelines.

In any case, a term life insurance plan is crucial for anyone with dependents. It is the easiest way to ensure that your family's financial future is secure even in your absence so that they can go on to achieve their important future milestones. However, many are unaware of the benefits and importance of having term life insurance and many of those who are aware also end up delaying it to only realize the importance of it when the risk is at the doorstep. Do not make that mistake. Get yourself covered now!

(The author is Head- Term Life Insurance, Policybazaar.com; views expressed are personal)