What Can Critical Illness Cover Be Used For?

by Mike Armstrong

Critical illness insurance may sometimes be confused with private medical insurance. Private medical insurance may pay for the treatment procedures in the event of a critical illness. Critical illness cover is also separate from income protection. Income protection insurance pays out usually in case of lost of work due to accident or illness. The payment may last until 1 year. Let's have a look at what can critical illness be used for.

Critical illness insurance can help you in the future if you are now going to start a new family. By doing so, you may be ensuring the protection of your wife as well as your future children. Also, if you buy the critical illness policy at an early stage of your life, you may get to pay low premium values. Sometimes, premiums may depend upon your age and your health condition. If ever you succeed in crossing the whole policy term in good health, you could be awarded a survival benefit that may therefore help you enjoy a better retirement.

Moreover, critical illness insurance may help you protect your mortgage if you have one. Otherwise, it may even help you protect your income. Many people may buy critical illness insurance depending on how much mortgage remains to be paid. Regarding the mortgage, some people might even decide how much cover they might want from critical illness insurance. Thus, when a payout is made, the mortgage can be settled hassle free. Furthermore, for example if you suffer from a critical illness such as heart attack, you might be unable to attend work. Consequently, your income may be lost. Critical illness insurance might then ensure a payment. This payment may act as a replacement of your loss income. Thus, your wife and children may be able to continue leading the daily lifestyle.

In addition to, buying a critical illness cover combined with mortgage might become a disadvantage in the future. The lump sum that will be awarded should you fall critically ill may decrease as your mortgage repayment also decreases. It can therefore be a good practice to have separate critical illness and mortgage protection policies. If you already use the mortgage payout, you could rest assured that the critical illness policy may still be in force. Hence, any dependants that you have may still be further protected should you be unfortunate enough to fall prey to a critical illness afterwards.

Nearly all critical illness policies cover seven major critical illness conditions. These can be considered as cancer, stroke, heart attack, multiple sclerosis, renal failure, coronary artery bypass and major organ transplant. Some policies or insurance companies may also pay out if you suffer from total and permanent disability resulting from illness or accident. The Association of British Insurers had also set new rules as from May 2003 that insurers must abide with. The conditions under which critical illness claims have to be made had been redefined. For example, non invasive skin cancers and less advanced conditions of prostate cancer may not be covered. For heart attacks, the ABI demands evidence of chest pain or possible changes in the ECG for critical illness claims to be successful.

While the advantage remains significant with critical illness insurance, strictness towards accepting a claim tends to increase. However, the important fact remains that you should be very careful to read all conditions on your critical illness policy before finalising an agreement with your insurers.

About the Author
For more information about life insurance and critical illness insurance please visit www.unbeatablelifeandcriticalinsurance.co.uk.