【Children's Critical Illness Insurance】Comparing 4 lifetime critical illness plans — which one offers more comprehensive protection?

Every parent hopes their children grow up healthy. Many parents even take out whole-life critical illness insurance for their children as early as before they are born, to ensure they have adequate protection along their growth journey. There are numerous whole-life critical illness products on the market, and as parents, they naturally want the coverage to more comprehensively protect the next generation. However, critical illness insurance covers many items and the terms are complex, making it difficult for the general public to compare — how can one find a product that offers more "comprehensive" protection?

Because many parents want to insure their children as early as possible, and to address the needs at different stages of a child’s growth, this article will, in addition to basic critical illness coverage, compare whole-life critical illness products from four insurers from aspects such as prenatal (mother-and-fetus) protection and additional benefits. The products compared include AXA 安盛 "愛唯守危疾保障（升級版）", Manulife "守護無間危疾保", Prudential "誠保一生" critical illness plan, and AIA "愛伴航", providing a comprehensive analysis of the products’ coverage along the child’s growth trajectory.

"Lifetime critical illness", as the name suggests, is protection that guards you for life — as long as the policy premiums are paid up to the specified term, the insured can be covered until old age¹. Therefore, when parents choose a critical illness product for their children, they can first look at the number of conditions covered, the types, and the sum insured to get a basic idea of the product's coverage. 

All four lifetime critical illness plans provide coverage for the three major critical illnesses (cancer, heart attack and stroke). For cancer benefits, AXA, Manulife and AIA offer a total cancer payout of up to 600%². The three products also offer a continued cancer benefit option, allowing the insured to choose either a lump-sum payout or monthly cash payments (fixed amount)³ to cover ongoing daily and medical expenses.

Regarding the number of payouts for heart attack or stroke, AXA pays twice for each of the two illnesses, while Manulife and Prudential provide a combined total of two payouts.

Referring to the table above, AXA’s "LoveGuard Critical Illness Protection (Upgraded Version)" (愛唯守危疾保障（升級版）) has a slightly stronger scope of coverage: its total protection is the highest, up to 1300%, and it covers the widest range, including 63 major critical illnesses and 57 early-stage or less severe critical illnesses. For critical illness patients, especially cancer patients, recurrence cannot be ignored, and the chance of developing another cancer is higher than that of the general population. Insurance products commonly provide corresponding protection—for example, if the insured is diagnosed again with the same cancer or with a new cancer, a benefit may be payable—but there is a waiting period, and the insured should note that only after the waiting period can another critical illness benefit be paid. The four products all impose a 3-year waiting period for recurrence. Among them, AXA’s "LoveGuard Critical Illness Protection (Upgraded Version)" only imposes a one-year waiting period for the insured to develop a brand-new cancer, which is shorter compared with the three-year waiting period of the other three products.

However, in terms of the number of childhood disease benefits, Prudential’s "Singbo Lifetime" (誠保一生) offers the most, including conditions such as severe eczema and severe rubella. Note that these benefits are classified as minor childhood diseases (7 out of the 22 items), with a benefit amount of only 5%. Each product covers different childhood conditions, and insurers’ definitions of the same conditions also vary, so parents should carefully compare the details according to their own needs.

For whole-life critical illness products, the general public usually takes the attitude "buy early rather than late." Therefore, insurers also offer a maternity version of whole-life critical illness coverage, which provides protection for the pregnant woman before the child is born, and after the baby is born the insured status transfers to the child. This practice of insuring children in advance reduces the chance of being declined due to congenital conditions, allowing the child to be covered from birth for unknown congenital diseases and critical illnesses. Currently, the earliest time available on the market to apply is the 18th week of pregnancy⁴, as seen in AXA安盛's "愛唯守危疾保障（升級版）－愛寶保".

Generally speaking, the market provides 100% of the benefit for an insured baby who contracts a serious illness or dies, but coverage is correspondingly reduced during the neonatal period. For serious illness and death protection for newborns, four critical illness plans pay 20% of the base benefit if the baby unfortunately contracts a critical illness within 90 days of birth or dies within 180 days after birth. Some products offer additional protection for specific periods; for example, AXA安盛 provides a first-year double benefit, offering up to 40% of the payout⁵, and brings forward the 100% critical illness coverage to take effect as early as 60 days after birth.

In addition, for common newborn conditions such as jaundice, if the child requires continuous hospitalization for 5 days for phototherapy within 30 days of birth, Prudential's "誠保一生" critical illness plan — 摯愛寶 will cover up to HK$2,000 per day⁶. 

Taking out insurance during pregnancy not only aims to protect the child but also serves to safeguard the parents. Expectant parents, especially the mother, face various challenges during pregnancy and need both physical and psychological support. AXA’s “愛唯守危疾保障（升級版）—愛寶保” also provides cover for postpartum depression and pregnancy complications, and its postpartum depression cover extends to both parents, with a total payout equal to Prudential’s “誠保一生—摯愛寶” at up to US$12,500; however, Prudential’s postpartum depression cover is limited to the mother only.

As social needs and the insurance industry advance, many insurers update their products in response to public demand to improve the protection available to policyholders.

World Health Organization data show there are over 55 million people with neurodegenerative conditions worldwide. The Lancet Commission reported that the number of people with dementia could nearly double by 2050 compared with 2019⁷. In response to the rising number of dementia cases, some critical illness products have correspondingly added benefits. For example, among the four products, AXA, AIA and Prudential provide annuity benefits for degenerative brain diseases. If the insured is diagnosed before age 85, and starting one year after diagnosis, AXA will pay 12% of the plan’s basic sum assured annually until the insured reaches age 100; AIA and Prudential will pay 6% of the plan’s basic sum assured annually until the insured’s death.

In Hong Kong, with the increasing number of SEN (Special Educational Needs) students, regarding childhood illnesses, AXA’s 「愛唯守危疾保障（升級版）」also provides an additional 5% of the basic sum assured as special educational support for insured children with SEN⁸.

When a new life arrives, parents want their child to receive unbeatable protection. As insurance products continue to innovate, parents should compare and analyse options to choose the coverage that best suits their family.

Notes:

1. AXA’s 「愛唯守危疾保障（升級版）」 and Manulife’s 「守護無間危疾保」 cover the insured until age 100; the other two products provide lifetime coverage.
2. Up to 100 months.
3. AXA’s 「愛唯守危疾保障（升級版）」 and AIA’s 「愛伴航」 provide 5% of the basic sum assured per month as an ongoing cancer benefit, reaching up to a maximum total cancer benefit of 600% of the basic sum assured.
4. Requires structural ultrasound imaging and passing simplified underwriting.
5. 「愛唯守危疾保障（升級版）—愛寶保」 includes “first-year 愛寶 protection insurance benefit” and “additional protection for the first 10 years.” If the infant unfortunately contracts a serious illness or dies within the first policy anniversary, the policy will pay an additional 50% of the sum insured respectively, for a total extra 100% of the sum insured. If the infant develops a serious critical illness within 60 days of birth or dies within 180 days of birth, the insurance benefit payable is 20%; taking into account the additional 100% payable sum insured, up to 40% of the benefit can be obtained.
6. 1% of the daily basic sum assured, for up to 7 days. The total benefit is subject to a daily limit of USD 250 / HKD 2,000. Infants born before 37 weeks’ gestation are not covered.
7. Ta Kung Pao: https://www.jccpa.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240916_Ta-Kung-Pao_A9_1.pdf  
8. The insured is first diagnosed with special educational needs; and due to those special educational needs, the insured attends a special school during the period starting from the insured’s 6th birthday or the policy anniversary immediately following it (including that day) (whichever date is earlier) up to the insured’s 18th birthday or the policy anniversary immediately following it (excluding that day) (whichever date is earlier), and has attended the special school for at least one academic year.

Last updated: 21 November 2024 

This English version of this article has been generated by machine translation powered by AI. It is provided solely for reference purposes. In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between this translation and the original Chinese version, the Chinese version shall prevail.