Critical illness insurance pays out a lump sum if you suffer from one of a range of specified health problems.

Although critical illness insurance is sold by life insurance representatives, it actually has nothing in common with life insurance. For a start, you don’t have to die to benefit from the critical illness insurance policy. This insurance is designed to pay out a (tax-free) lump sum in the event of you suffering from a serious illness or if you have to undergo certain types of surgery, which means you are unable to work. The lump sum paid out by critical illness insurance is to help with the extra costs of living with a particular condition but its important to note that it only pays out if you contract one of a defined list of illness stipulated on your policy. More than 75% of critical illness claims are for cancer, coronary artery bypass surgery, heart attack, kidney failure, organ transplants and stroke all of these core illness will be listed on your policy, If you wish to add to tthe list you may be able to do so, but you will end up paying a higher premium.

Unless you have substantial savings (or other sources of income) some form of critical illness insurance may well make sense for you. How much you should have depends on your circumstances. Consider the lump sum you might need should you be out of work for a considerable length of time, you may have to make alterations to your home, pay off your mortgage. This will determine how much you will need to pay each month. The amount you pay will also be dertimined by your age, gender, and general well being.

Flexibility
Usually you will pay a set premium for a agreed amount of years, but some policies are flexible, so that you can increase the amount of cover as you go. On the whole though, as with life insurance, if you are looking after your savings you should not need to increase your level of cover.

Combined Critical Illness & Life Insurance Policies
Often you will find critical illness policies which are bundled in with a life insurance policy, there is nothing wrong with these policies although they are not always as simple to understand. However if you go for one of these make sure that it covers exactly what you want it to. You may find that a bundled product is cheaper than two individual ones but it might mean that the bundled policy only pays out once. For example if you had to claim for a critical illness, and died a couple of months later your partner would not be able to claim life insurance on your death. Separate policies would however pay out for both claims, which is why two policies are preferable.

Total & Permanent Disability Cover
Many critical illness insurance policies will also include cover for ‘total and permanent disability’. This pays out if you become unable to work due to permanent disability arising from any illness or injury (regardless of whether it is listed in the policy). Whether or not it is a good idea to include one of these clauses is debatable. Effectively it overlaps with income protection insurance. However there are small differences. First of all, critical illness insurance pays out a lump sum whereas income protection pays an income. Would you rather pay off your mortgage? or be given the income to pay the monthly premiums?

All protection policies have benefits and drawbacks. We will discuss these with you before we make a recommendation. Each provider has its own definitions of Critical Illnesses. Pre-existing medical conditions will be excluded. We will discuss this with you before we make a recommendation.

As with all insurance policies terms, conditions and exclusions will apply.

Policy Details:

Application type Single      Joint Cover type Life & Critical illness insurance Life insurance only Critical illness cover only Cover amount £20,000 £25,000 £30,000 £35,000 £40,000 £45,000 £50,000 £55,000 £60,000 £65,000 £70,000 £75,000 £80,000 £85,000 £90,000 £95,000 £100,000 £105,000 £110,000 £115,000 £120,000 £125,000 £130,000 £135,000 £140,000 £145,000 £150,000 £155,000 £160,000 £165,000 £170,000 £175,000 £180,000 £185,000 £190,000 £195,000 £200,000 £205,000 £210,000 £215,000 £220,000 £225,000 £230,000 £235,000 £240,000 £245,000 £250,000 £255,000 £260,000 £265,000 £270,000 £275,000 £280,000 £285,000 £290,000 £295,000 £300,000 £325,000 £350,000 £375,000 £400,000 £425,000 £450,000 £475,000 £500,000 £550,000 £600,000 £650,000 £700,000 £750,000 £800,000 £850,000 £900,000 £950,000 £1,000,000 £1,100,000 £1,200,000 £1,300,000 £1,400,000 £1,500,000 Cover terms (years) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Level or decreasing cover Level Decreasing Premium type Guaranteed Reviewable First Applicant: Title Mr Mrs Miss Ms Dr Rev Prof Capt Sir First Name Last Name Smoker: Yes No Sex Male Female Date of birth 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 January February March April May June July August September October November December 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Second Applicant: Title Mr Mrs Miss Ms Dr Rev Prof Capt Sir First Name Last Name Smoker: Yes No Sex Male Female Date of birth 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 January February March April May June July August September October November December 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Contact Information Mobile Telephone Telephone Email address Address Postcode