Critical Illness Cover

Amongst the many types of insurance cover available today is critical illness cover, and this is a type of cover that can be used as an add on to another insurance policy, such as life insurance, or can be taken out as a stand alone policy.

Nobody knows what life has in store for them, and every day many people in the UK are diagnosed with some form of critical illness, which can be devastating both for the person and the family. Adding to the stress of being diagnosed with a critical illness is the financial implication – being unable to work due to your illness could mean loss of income, putting even more strain on the situation and on the family.

Critical illness cover is designed to eliminate the risk of being left high and dry if you are diagnosed with a critical illness, and with this type of cover you can enjoy the peace of mind that if you are diagnosed with such an illness one thing that you won’t have to worry about at an already stressful time is money.

Critical illness insurance covers a number of critical illnesses, but not everything is covered by this type of policy so you should make sure that you read through the terms, conditions, and exclusions carefully before you make any commitment.

When you have critical illness insurance cover, you will receive a lump sum payment upon diagnosis of a critical illness, and this can then be used for whatever you think best, whether it is towards paying off some or all of your mortgage (depending on how much you receive) or whether you prefer to put it aside to help you and your family get through difficult times.

Once you have received your payment following your diagnosis that money is yours to keep, and even if you go on to recover from the critical illness you will still get to keep the money.

The length of the term of your policy along with the payout and premiums will be confirmed when you fist take out your policy, and in order to make a claim you will have to be diagnosed with one of the critical illnesses listed on the policy within the specified time period.

Depending on the terms of your cover, you may find that in order to receive a payout you need to wait until twenty eight days after your diagnosis, and if you die before the twenty eight day period no payment will be made – again, check your policy to check on individual terms.

When you decide to take out a critical illness policy, you should assess your financial needs in order to determine how much you would need as a lump sum payment to manage.

Some of the factors that you will need to account include any outstanding mortgage, any loss of income if you are unable to work, etc. This will enable you to better determine the level of cover that you need, and as with all insurance policies the higher the level of protection offered the more you will have to pay on premiums.