Critical Illness Cover
Critical illness is more common than you think. Cancer, multiple sclerosis, the need for an organ transplant, a stroke – these strike when least expected and can devastate not just your health, but also your family’s finances. But with critical illness insurance you can have the funds you need to pay for treatments, as well as for any other expenses you might deem necessary.
What is Critical Illness Insurance?
Critical Illness insurance will pay a specified lump sum upon the diagnosis of a serious illness that is covered in the policy. The purpose of the cover is to provide you with the funds for treatment and recovery, as well as other necessary expenses. The advantage of this cover is that once the payout is given, you are free to spend the money however you wish.
Critical Illness insurance is typically offered to people from ages 17 to 65, though the minimum and maximum ages vary from insurer to insurer.
Critical illness cover can be bought as a separate policy or as part of a life insurance policy or mortgage life insurance policy. In the case where critical illness is included in a life insurance or mortgage life insurance policy, you can essentially expect two lump sum payments – one when you are diagnosed with a critical illness and one upon your death.
Critical illness will cover common medical conditions such as:
- Stroke
- Heart attack
- Kidney failure
- Organ transplant
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Blindness or deafness
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Heart valve surgery
- Certain kinds of cancer
- Quadriplegia
- Loss of limbs
- End stage lung disease
- Dissecting aortic aneurysm
- Major burns
- Progressive muscular atrophy
- Benign brain tumor
Why Take it Out?
With today’s medical advances, people are living longer and enjoy higher survival rates when diagnosed with a critical illness. However, the cost of treatments may not just devastate your health but also your finances. For one, your critical illness may render you unable to keep your job and earn an income. Also, medical treatments for critical illnesses are sometimes quite expensive and may drain your family’s finances. You may find yourself unable to pay the treatments you need and may even be beset by worries due to mounting bills.
With critical illness cover you can have the means to pay for the treatment that will ensure your complete recovery, and may even be able to pay for home treatment and to have your vehicle and house equipped with adaptive medical facilities that will make life easier for you during your recovery. You can even earmark a portion of the payout to go on the trip to Europe that you have long been saving up for.
The Cost
Similar to life insurance, critical illness cover will depend upon your selected sum insured and extent of coverage, health condition, your age, gender, your occupation and other factors. Your family’s medical history and your health records will also be examined. Also, smoking will significantly increase premiums as this habit is considered a health risk factor. To help determine your medical condition, some insurance companies may require a medical exam.
Please note that your policy will be priced based on the information you have provided. It may be tempting to hide some facts about your health condition, but we advise against this since failure to disclose pertinent information may affect your claim.
You have the option of either getting a reviewable or guaranteed premium. Reviewable premium policies start out with a lower premium but the policies will be up for review, usually every 5 years, and the insurance company will determine whether an increase in premiums is warranted. This may mean that the premiums remain as is or will increase. Meanwhile, guaranteed premium policies are more expensive at the onset but this provides guaranteed premiums for the entire duration of the policy.
Critical Illness Insurance Can Be a Lifeline
Preparing for an illness is not something we all want to do. We would like to think that nothing bad will happen to us. However, it is nearly impossible to foresee the future and what may happen. This is when hoping for the best but preparing for the worst is a wise decision.
What critical illness cover doesn’t do is produce a regular income. If you were unable to work due to a critical illness, a good income protection policy would cover your ongoing expenditure. One of our qualified protection advisors will be able to find you the most appropriate balance of income protection, life insurance and critical illness cover to meet your individual needs, so why not call us today so we can help arrange cover to protect you and your family.
