Is it better to buy a rider or a standalone insurance policy?

At the time of buying an insurance policy, you are often told about the availability of additional covers along with the basic policy. For example, one of the popular riders is a critical illness rider, which offers additional coverage for heart attacks, cancer, diabetes, kidney failure, organ transplant or paralysis. In case any of these ailments run in your family, you can benefit from these riders over and above your existing health insurance policy. The availability of these riders offers you comprehensive coverage. Similarly, personal accident insurance covers accidental death along with permanent and temporary disabilities due to an accident. Several insurers also cover maternity expenses.

You can add many riders to your insurance policy and personalise them to suit your requirements. Having said that, given that most of the riders are also available as stand-alone policies one often wonders how to go about them.

Here are a few things you should know before choosing one:

Easy management

At times, it is easier to buy one basic policy with riders attached for holistic financial protection for your family. It saves you from the additional paperwork and the hassle of paying premiums separately for each plan. One plan can take care of your comprehensive insurance needs.

Claim process

Depending on the type of riders the claim procedure will be different. For example, certain riders get triggered with the death claim such as accidental death rider whereas some riders such as waiver of premium rider get activated in case of a disability.

You also need to submit different documents for different claims. For a critical illness rider, you need to submit medical documents namely the first diagnosis report, medical report, etc. For an accidental disability rider, a policyholder needs to submit an FIR copy, disability certificate, among others.

Premium

Always compare the premium that you need to pay for the rider compared with the standalone policy. The premium comparison along with the coverage offered will help you make the right decision.

Coverage

Last but not least. Standalone policies tend to give you wider coverage than riders. Before opting for the add-on covers make sure they give you the coverage as good as standalone plans.