Bone Marrow Transplant:

a procedure to replace damaged or destroyed bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells.

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery:

open-heart surgery to correct narrowing or blockage of one or more coronary arteries with bypass grafts, but excluding procedures such as but not limited to coronary angioplasty, valve replacement surgery, stent placement, laser relief, or other surgical or nonsurgical procedures.

Covered Person:

any person insured under the coverage type that you applied for on the application: individual (named insured listed in the Policy Schedule), named insured/spouse only (named insured and spouse), one-parent family (named insured and dependent children), or two-parent family (named insured, spouse and dependent children). Spouse is defined as the person to whom you are legally married and who is listed on your application. Newborn children of the named insured or spouse are automatically covered under the terms of the policy for 30 days from the moment of birth. If coverage is for individual or named insured/spouse only and you desire uninterrupted coverage for a newborn child beyond the first 30 days, you must notify Aflac in writing within 31 days of the birth of your child, and Aflac will convert the policy to one-parent family or two-parent family coverage and advise you of the additional premium due, if any. Coverage will include any other dependent child, regardless of age, who is incapable of self-sustaining employment by reason of intellectual or physical disability, and who became so disabled prior to age 26 and while covered under the policy. Dependent children are your natural children, stepchildren, or legally adopted children who are under age 26. Children born to your dependent children or children born to the dependent children of your spouse are not covered under the policy.

Critical Illness Event:

heart attack, sudden cardiac arrest, stroke, major human organ transplant, end-stage renal failure, bone marrow transplant or internal cancer.

Critical Illness Event Recovery:

a covered person will be considered in critical illness event recovery if, due to a covered critical illness event, he or she continues to be under the active care and treatment of a physician.

Effective Date:

the date(s) coverage begins as shown in the Policy Schedule or any attached endorsements or riders. The effective date may not be the date you requested or the date you signed the application for coverage.

End-Stage Renal Failure:

permanent and irreversible kidney failure, not of an acute nature, requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain life.

Heart Attack:

a myocardial infarction. The attack must be positively diagnosed by a physician and must be evidenced by electrocardiographic findings or clinical findings together with blood enzyme findings.

Hospital Confinement:

a stay of a covered person confined to a bed in a hospital for 23 or more hours for which a room charge is made. The hospital confinement must be on the advice of a physician, medically necessary, and the result of a covered critical illness event. Treatment or confinement in a U.S. government hospital does not require a charge for benefits to be payable.

Internal Cancer:

disease manifested by the presence of a malignant tumor or characterized by the uncontrolled growth and spread of malignant cells and the invasion of tissue. Internal cancer also includes but is not limited to leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, myeloproliferative and myelodysplastic blood disorders, and invasive melanoma of Clark’s Level III or higher, or a Breslow level greater than 1.5 mm. Internal cancer must receive a positive medical diagnosis. Premalignant conditions or conditions with malignant potential, other than those specifically named above, are not considered internal cancer.

Loss:

a critical illness event, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, noninvasive cancer, or nonmelanoma skin cancer.

Major Human Organ Transplant:

a surgery that was first recommended by a physician after the effective date of coverage in which a covered person receives, as a result of a surgical transplant, one or more of the following human organs: heart, kidney, liver, lung or pancreas.

Noninvasive Cancer:

a carcinoma in the natural or normal place, confined to the site of origin without having invaded neighboring tissue. Noninvasive cancer includes noninvasive melanoma skin cancer.

Noninvasive Melanoma Skin Cancer:

a cancer that has not spread outside the tissue in which it began and includes melanoma of Clark’s Level I or II, or a Breslow Level less than or equal to 1.5 mm.

Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer:

a cancer other than a melanoma that begins in the upper part of the skin (epidermis).

Onset Date:

the date of the occurrence for a heart attack, stroke, or sudden cardiac arrest; the date of diagnosis by a physician where such diagnosis is supported by medical records for end-stage renal failure; the date of surgery for a major human organ transplant or coronary artery bypass graft surgery; the date of the procedure for bone marrow transplant; or the day the tissue specimen, culture, and/or titer is taken upon which the initial diagnosis of internal cancer, noninvasive cancer or nonmelanoma skin cancer is based.

Stroke:

apoplexy due to rupture or acute occlusion of a cerebral artery. The apoplexy must cause complete or partial loss of function involving the motion or sensation of a part of the body and must last more than 24 hours. The stroke must be positively diagnosed by a physician based upon documented neurological deficits and confirmatory neuroimaging studies.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest:

sudden, unexpected loss of heart function in which the heart abruptly and without warning stops working as a result of an internal electrical system malfunction of the heart. Any death where the sole cause of death shown on the death certificate is cardiovascular collapse, sudden cardiac arrest, cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death shall be deemed to be sudden cardiac arrest for purposes of the policy.

Hospital does not include any institution or part thereof used as an emergency room; a rehabilitation facility; a hospice unit, including any bed designated as a hospice or a swing bed; a convalescent home; a rest or nursing facility; a psychiatric unit; an extended-care facility; a skilled nursing facility; or a facility primarily affording custodial or educational care, care or treatment for persons suffering from mental disease or disorders, care for the aged or care for persons addicted to drugs or alcohol.

A hospital intensive care unit does not provide benefits for confinement in units such as telemetry or surgical recovery rooms, postanesthesia care units, progressive care units, intermediate care units, private monitored rooms, observation units located in emergency rooms or outpatient surgery units, step-down intensive care units or other facilities that do not meet the standards for a hospital intensive care unit.

Heart attack shall not be construed to mean congestive heart failure, atherosclerotic heart disease, angina, coronary artery disease, cardiac arrest or any other dysfunction of the cardiovascular system.

Internal cancer does not include nonmelanoma skin cancers, noninvasive melanoma skin cancers or noninvasive cancer.

Sudden cardiac arrest is not a heart attack.

Major human organ transplants do not include transplants involving mechanical or nonhuman organs.

Noninvasive cancer does not include nonmelanoma skin cancer.

A physician does not include you or a member of your immediate family.

Stroke does not mean head injury, transient ischemic attack (TIA), cerebrovascular insufficiency or lacunar infarction (LACI).

The onset date for internal cancer, noninvasive cancer or nonmelanoma skin cancer is not the date the diagnosis is communicated to the covered person.

Treatment does not include maintenance drug therapy or routine follow-up visits to verify whether internal cancer or noninvasive cancer has returned.

For the Subsequent Critical Illness Event Benefit to be payable, the onset date of a covered person’s subsequent critical illness event must be 180 days or more from the onset date of their most recent critical illness event for which benefits are payable or have been paid. This benefit is not payable on the same day as the Initial Diagnosis Benefit.