Critical illness insurance pays out a lump sum or regular payments in the event of a life-threatening illness. Protect your family’s finances by insuring yourself against serious illness.
What would you and your family do if you were diagnosed with a very serious illness. Are you just meeting your bills every month? What would happen if you developed a life-threatening condition that restricted your ability to work? What if you had a heart attack or developed a terminal illness?
Critical Illness Cover is designed to protect you and your family from the financial burden that can develop in the aftermath of a serious medical diagnosis. Things can be bad enough without the threat of losing your family home and having a reduced or no income to feed and look after your family.
Policies are available with a range of monthly premiums. But beware, the cheapest policies usually have the smallest list of covered medical conditions, and the most stringent rules about claiming.
To be honest, an insurance company will only offer really cheap insurance premiums if they believe there is a very small chance of someone making a successful claim. Otherwise they just wouldn’t make any money and would be out of business. They rely on the total income from everyone’s premiums being more than the total outgoings from claims.
You hope that it’s one of those insurances you never need to make a claim on. And in some regards, you might not even want to think about the possibility of getting a serious or terminal illness. It’s just too horrible to think about.
If you stay healthy, you might think that those insurance premiums are a waste. You’re paying money every month for nothing.
But Critical Illness Cover could be there to make a big difference to your, and your family’s lives in the event the worst happens.
Here is a quick YouTube video which explains the highlights of Critical Illness Insurance.
Many different types of Critical Illness Cover are available and getting advice from an independent financial advisor is really important. Some policies cover more illnesses than others, so it is important to read up on the fine print before taking out a policy. The most common medical conditions to think about include heart attack, cancer, stroke, blindness and major third degree burns.
Looking through the list of illnesses that are covered might seem scary, but make sure any conditions where you have a family history are completely covered. There would be nothing worse than paying insurance premiums for years, only to discover that the illness you developed wasn’t covered.
When you sign up, the insurance company will ask detailed questions about your complete family medical history. They are weighing up the risk of you developing a critical illness. Be sure to be completely open and honest in revealing your medical history. Leaving out something at the point of applying might seem trivial, but could result in a failed claim many years later if your insurance company finds out about it and decides it was relevant.
Think about whether you just want a lump sum payout. Or would a regular income for your family be more useful?
The money that is paid out from a Critical Illness Insurance Claim should be tax free, and there are no restrictions on what you or your family do with it. You might want to pay off some or all of the mortgage to leave yourselves debt free, and able to concentrate on the important things in life. Not worrying how to meet monthly bills. Or you might choose to receive a monthly allowance to help cover all monthly bills and provide peace of mind.
What ever you do, at least consider the potential benefits of a Critical Illness Policy. Yes, it’s another monthly bill at a time when we could do without extra monthly outgoings, but consider the benefits and what it would mean if you developed a serious illness.