Serious illness can strike at any age and therefore some people opt to take out a form of insurance which is designed to ease financial strain through a tax-free lump sum payout, particularly by those who have close relatives who rely on them for financial input, often referred to as ‘dependants’ in policy language.  This is often called critical illness insurance or critical illness cover.

This cover pays out the agreed sum when the policyholder is diagnosed with a specified range of illness.  There will typically be quite a long list of illnesses covered on the policy, but the wording of a company’s deal may differ from one firm to the next.

Nearly all critical illness insurance policies cover a set of core conditions, often things like cancer, a heart attack, kidney failure, and a stroke.  Most will also pay out if somebody becomes permanently incapacitated because of an injury or illness.

However, not all conditions are covered and a potential policyholder may want to carefully examine the wording of a deal before they sign on the dotted line.

Generally speaking you can get illness cover either for a set amount of time, perhaps as long as a mortgage is due to last, or for the rest of your life.  Somebody can take out a policy with an agreed term and perhaps renew when runs out if they choose.

There is also often a waiting period after you make a successful claim, perhaps around a month, before a payout arrives and after a policy is purchased somebody will need to wait a set amount of time, perhaps three months, before they are allowed to make a claim.

Getting critical illness cover insurance often involves completing a form provided by the insurance company.  This will often enquire as to your medical history and the background of close family relatives in terms of medical conditions.  You may have to pay a higher premium if some of your relatives have suffered certain major illnesses.

Smokers can also often expect to pay more, and sometimes you may need to complete a medical.  There are also some common exceptions on this kind of cover, and insurers will not typically pay out if someone falls ill due to drug or alcohol abuse, self inflicted injury or HIV/Aids.

Following a successful claim the agreed benefit is simply paid as a one-off lump sum and you can often expect it to arrive fairly quickly after the serious illness has been diagnosed.  Critical illness protection is also different to permanent health insurance which involves a regular income payout if somebody is diagnosed with a long-term illness or injury.

Importantly critical illness insurance typically allows you to use the payout exactly as you wish.  You may want to use it to pay off a mortgage or to clear debts, and it can also be used for things like childcare or even the household shopping and bills.  The idea is to help a family come to terms with the policy holder’s condition and support them financially at a difficult time.

When you are young fit and healthy, it is awkward to plan for the day when that might not be, but critical illness insurance is something that we all should make provision for.  This is a case of providing the essentials of living in today’s world for your loved ones in the event of your early death.

After many years of medical studies it is plain the chances of a individual contracting a critical illness during their life is quite high therefore insurance providers now handle insurance policies like this every day.

Studies have highlighted the problem with virtually one man in five by the time they retire having a serious medical illness.  For women, this figure is slightly lower with only one in six being affected by before retirement.

Of course, most individuals do not really feel they need critical illness insurance and would explain why they are so unwilling to start a plan.  This type of insurance policy is designed to protect those around you who you love but the primary reason why individuals organise critical illness cover is to ensure mortgage repayments do not lapse.

Nowadays increasing numbers of people decide to use the World Wide Web to arrange their insurance plans and more recently cover for critical illness has also become available.  For obvious reasons there will be certain things that need physical evidence and so these plans are not invariably smooth sailing to organize.

Understandably, insurance suppliers want to see physical proof that the applier does not have any outstanding conditions before they arrange the coverage.  This is also for the benefit of the claimant because if they need to contact their critical illness insurance provider, they do not want to receive an insensitive person on the other end of the phone line.

One group of high risk individuals are those that smoke, in fact they generally ask each applicant if they have smoked within the previous year and if the answer is ‘yes’, they will be rated higher.

Many things are taken into account when dealing with the risk component associated with any type of insurance policy including the applier’s age, their overall health, whether the type of work they do is dangerous or any activities they participate in, not just whether they are a smoker.

The cover that critical illness cover insurance provides is quite extensive, and so you can anticipate it to pay out if you have a deadly illness, if you are laid off from work owing to the condition or if surgery is required.  Family responsibilities are never easy but ensuring your family is looked after if you are diagnosed with a deadly illness does not have to price the earth.

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If you have been told that you have a critical illness and your cover pays out you may want to use the money to help with medical bills or you may need things done to your house to make you cope better with your condition. your payout from your cover would also be tax free.  Critical illness may be classed as heart attacks and kidney problems, cancer, strokes etc.

Critical illness cover is different from Income protection.  This is when you have not been able to work for a set length of time, i.e.- about six months and it will pay out a monthly amount.

Choosing Critical Illness Cover Insurance

When you have received your quote and have asked about critical illness cover, you have to realise that there are quite a lot of different kinds of critical illness and different policies cover different illness’s.  Although all policies cover heart attacks, cancers and strokes you have to make sure that you get a quote for the cover that will grasp all your needs.  It is sometimes advisable to speak to an independent adviser before going ahead with the cover

New rules came into force in 2003 that change the conditions that applied to claiming on critical illness policies. These rules mean that all insurers will not cover illnesses such as non invasive skin cancer and suchlike.  Also any claims for heart attacks to be successful will need evidence of pains in the chest and changes on the ECG.  Angina and other moderate conditions are not covered by critical illness policies.

It is also noted that as well as the insurance companies main list of illnesses there is an other list that includes illnesses that are not serious enough to pay out on.  HIV & AIDS are not covered if they have been the result of drug abuse.  Minor heart operations and not taking advice from your doctor when recuperating from critical illness could also rule that your claim is null and void.

Critical Illness Cover Insurance For Your Family

Remember that if you have a family, critical illness cover insurance is good sense but if you are a single person it could be more important for you as it could pay off any mortgage that you have left to pay off.

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I decided to make this site as I felt it would be a great way for me to keep all the information I learn throughout my studies, in one easy to reach place.

I have to admit, all the books and information I have to study is a bit overwhelming for me, please don’t take anything on this site to be professionally qualified advice.  This site is just a place where I can write down my thoughts on my studies so I can better understand them myself.

I have always had an intrest in law, although professionally I have not had much experience in it.  My career thus far has been in retail working for some large supermarket chains in the area.

After a few years doing that I knew it was not for me, therefore i decided to make a change and begin to study law at college.  As you may have guessed I want to become an insurance expert, this will take years of hard work but I am prepared to put in the hours.

I have made a commitment to myself to grow both professionally and personally and I hope this site will aid me to do this.

Away from work, I am a very keen badminton player (although I’m not very good at it he-he) so if your in the Manchester area please get in touch and we can have a game.  I also love reading books, believe it or not I’m currently going through all the Harry Potter books again, back to back!

I hope you like my little site.

Jackie

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