Critical Illness Cover

Provides a Lump Sum in the Event of Critical Illness

Critical Illness Cover can be added to a term life insurance policy or can be bought as a stand-alone policy.

Critical Illness Insurance is designed to provide a lump sum of cash if you are diagnosed as having one of the listed critical illnesses covered. Most insurers cover around 30 conditions including:

• Cancer
• Heart Attack
• Stroke
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Major Organ Transplant
• Paralysis of limbs
• Parkinson’s Disease

All insurers cover the main ABI (Association of British Insurers) Critical Illness definitions. Most insurers also include extra definitions to make their critical illness policies look better than their rivals. Most insurers also provide free children’s cover when you take out a critical illness insurance policy.

A critical illness payout is not linked to your life expectancy. If you are diagnosed as having suffered one of the covered conditions then you can make a claim under the policy, irrespective of your life expectancy or quality of your life. The proceeds can be used for anything you desire. Common uses are to meet medical expenses, pay off a mortgage or debt or fund lifestyle changes such as giving up work, reducing your hours etc.

If you are thinking of buying critical illness protection it is important that you compare the quality of cover provided by each of the critical illness providers as this can vary from one insurer to the next. Finding the best Critical Illness Cover for you and your family is a very important decision. As a general rule of thumb the insurers that cover the most Critical Illness conditions cost a little more than those that just cover the basic ABI core CI conditions. You need to decide if the extra conditions provided by the ‘quality’ insurers actually add any real value, as the extra illnesses could be regarded as being so rare that very few ever suffer them.

We suggest you use our critical illness cover online quote engine to get a comparative quote of critical illness rates from leading UK critical illness cover insurers and then pick 2 or 3 insurers and read through their documentation to find the best critical illness policy for you. We also have in our document library critical illness statistics as well as critical illness key features and claims guides issued by some insurers which show how much they have paid out in valid CI claims and under what illness conditions.

Some insurers also include added value services such as free access to rehabilitation services, trained specialist nurses as well as independent doctors to provide second opinions, treatment advice, counselling services etc.

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