The Critical Illness Cover Guide
If you become seriously ill to the point where you can no longer work to earn a living. You might need help to keep up with mortgage and other household bills as well as general day-to-day living costs.
Critical illness cover can do just that, paying out in the event that you contract a serious illness, helping you and your family cover the costs that you no longer can. At Life Insurance Cover we compare all of the Critical Illness Cover providers for you.
In This Guide:
Is Critical Illness Cover Worth It?
What Does Critical Illness Cover Offer?
Who Needs Critical Illness Cover?
What's The Difference Between Life Insurance & Critical Illness Cover?
Critical Illness Cover For Children
Will My Critical Illness Cover Pay Out?
When you purchase a critical illness cover policy, both the length of the term of the policy and a list of conditions or illnesses will be detailed within your policy documents. If you contract one of the specified illnesses during the policy term. A tax-free lump sum of money will be paid to you. The claim pay-out will help to ease the new financial stress that your new medical condition has caused.
You are then able to use the money paid to you, to put towards any debts or mortgage repayments you would normally be able to pay, as well as any medical bills that you may now have to pay. Also the money will help your family on a day to day basis. Helping to pay for the things that you’d normally pay for with your income if you were still able to keep working.
Is Critical Illness Cover Worth It?
If you take out a Fixed Term Life Insurance policy or Decreasing Term Life Insurance. You can choose to add Critical Illness Cover protection for an extra cost. Some of our insurance providers offer just Critical Illness protection without the need for a Life Insurance Policy. Depending on your circumstances, that cost could be quite significant. If your budget can stretch to the additional cost, it is a worthwhile protection policy if you are unable to work due to a medical condition.
What Does Critical Illness Cover Offer?
Critical Illness Cover is designed to protect you and your loved ones from the financial impact it may cause. It will pay-out a cash sum if you are diagnosed with. Or undergo a medical procedure for one of the specified critical illnesses that our insurance providers list within their documentation. It could help pay for things like household bills, childcare costs or simply help maintain a reasonable standard of living for you and your family if you have to take time off work to recover. Each insurance provider has their own medical conditions list. At Life Insurance Cover, we explain all of the differences between each company.
Who Needs Critical Illness Cover?
A Critical Illness can impact anyone at any age and can turn their world around. In the event of being unable to work due to Critical Illness, having a back-up plan in place can help to reduce some of the financial stress of the situation. Some people may use their savings to supplement a loss of income, others may rely on an employment benefit package from their employers. Many others find that a Critical Illness Cover policy is one of the best options if they need a cash sum. As it does not deplete your savings or impact you as an employee.
How Much Does It Cost?
The amount you may have to pay varies widely from person to person. To get an idea of how you much you could be paying, it is best to get a free quote. These are some of the factors that will determine the cost of your premium:
Smoking: Either currently a smoker or have previously smoked in the last 12 months
Age: Usually cheaper premiums are offered to young and healthy people
Amount Of Cover: How much protection you want and how long you need it to last for
Health & Lifestyle: This includes your weight and family medical history
Employment: Some occupations are seen as higher risk and can have higher premiums associated
What's The Difference Between Life Insurance & Critical Illness Cover?
The essential difference between Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover is that Life Insurance provides financial protection in the event of your death during the length of your policy, while Critical Illness Cover protects you for the diagnosis of a specified critical illness. At Life Insurance Cover, we take the time to understand your needs and requirements. You might wish take out a Life Insurance policy and choose to add Critical Illness Cover for an extra cost. Or just obtain a Standalone Critical Illness Cover policy. Detailed below are some of the key differences between Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover:
Control Of Funds: Life Insurance will usually pay a claimed amount of money to your loved ones. Giving them control of how to best use the money when a valid claim is made. With a Critical Illness Cover policy, you personally would receive the claim pay out and you can decide how best to use it.
Financial Pay-out: A Life insurance policy will pay-out a cash sum in the event of your death and can help minimise the financial impact on your loved ones that are left behind. Critical Illness Cover is designed to pay out following the diagnosis of a specified critical illness covered by the policy. This will help to alleviate some of the stress during a difficult time while you recuperate.
Children's Critical Illness Cover: Many of the insurance providers that we work with offer children's cover automatically when you purchase a Critical Illness Cover policy and offers some financial protection if your children become critically ill.
What Conditions Are Covered?
There are many different providers who offer protection against different conditions. Most the insurance providers offer protection for up to 60 different illnesses. We compare Critical Illness Cover providers to match your needs against all of the UK companies. Usually if you suffer a medical condition defined on your policy documents, the insurer will pay-out your claim. We take the time to explain all of the potential policy shortfalls to you. Also you should always make sure you read your policies small print to identify any exclusions before you purchase Critical Illness policy as you want to be certain that you’re getting the protection you want and need.
Critical Illness Cover For Children
Often, insurance companies will allow you to add critical illness protection for children onto your existing policy at no extra charge. Pay-out amounts can vary between companies, but we will help you find the protection that suits your needs. Once a child has Critical Illness Cover, it will allow you to claim any expenses associated with your child becoming seriously ill (like medical bills), reducing financial stress. We compare all of the insurance companies and we will find the best protection for you.
Reducing Premium Costs
The monthly cost of your premium is based on the likelihood of a claim against the policy. Some older customers, customers with ongoing health problems and customers with potentially dangerous lifestyles (like smokers) will pay more than others. This is because these individuals can be classified as a higher risk.
It is extremely important to disclose any medical problems or issues which may invalidate your policy. If you are found to have withheld any relevant information about your health or lifestyle. from your insurer. You could find your entire policy invalidated.
Another way to get cheaper Critical Illness protection is to purchase a term/ decreasing term life insurance policy. While this will can keep costs down, you should be aware that you will only get a single pay-out with such a policy. This means that if you contract a serious illness, you will receive a claim pay-out. But you will not get a further claim pay-out in the event of your death.
Will My Critical Illness Cover Pay Out?
While some insurance companies may charge lower premiums. It is very important to check to see if this is related to a low proportion of pay-outs on Critical Illness policies from the provider in question. All insurance companies make this kind of data available to potential and existing customers. This enables you to make an informed decision on who you would like to protect you. If it looks like you’re getting a suspiciously good deal, have a look at all of the information you can.
Detailed below is the claim statistics for many of the Providers we work with for 2019:
Make sure you’re getting the best deals available on your protection policies, compare Life and Critical Illness protection with Life Insurance Cover.