What Is Standalone Critical Illness Insurance?

by David Thomson

While the majority of people who take out a critical illness policy choose a policy that also includes life insurance, there is also an option many don’t consider - a standalone critical insurance policy. So what’s the difference you might ask?

Well a policy that includes life insurance means that on the death of the person holding the policy or should that person suffer from a critical illness or become permanently disabled, then a lump sum benefit will be paid.

If you purchase a standalone critical illness policy it will only pay out the amount of benefit should you be unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with a serious critical illness or you should be become permanently disabled.

However, in many cases, purchasing a combined policy of life insurance and critical illness does work out cheaper than purchasing the standalone policy.

The reason behind this is that the majority of people take out the combined policy and overlook the standalone; this means that competition is fiercer for the combined, which helps to keep premiums lower due to competition.

The standalone could however benefit you if you don’t have to worry about dependants - if there is no one depending on you then you might not need to take out life insurance. On the other hand if you have already got coverage for life insurance and you are benefiting from a great deal, then you could consider taking out standalone critical illness insurance after shopping around for a good deal.

When purchasing a standalone policy it is in your best interest to shop around and compare as many companies as possible for the cheapest price and deal or use a specialist broker who can help. All policies have exclusions, so it is imperative that you understand the terms of your policy and what you are and are not covered for.

The small print should be looked at with a fine tooth comb as this is where the exclusions will be hidden. While a policy might seem like a cheap deal, it could end up being nothing more than a worthless piece of paper should your claim be turned down due to an exclusion you didn’t realise was there.

About the Author:
David Thomson is Chief Executive of BestDealInsurance.co.uk, a specialist insurance website dedicated to putting customers first. They ensure their customers get the best deal when buying life insurance, critical illness and income protection cover

The Benefits Of Critical Illness Cover

by Victoria Selman

Of course, no-one likes to think that they or someone that they love might become seriously ill. However, according to statistics about a fifth of all adults in the UK will become critically ill before they reach retirement age. Critical Illness Cover allows people to protect themselves if the worst should happen by providing a financial safety net for them.

What is Critical Illness Cover?

Critical illness cover is an insurance product that pays out a tax free lump sum to policy holders who become seriously ill whilst they have cover in place.

The Benefits of Critical Illness Cover

Critical illness cover protects against a wide range of common illnesses that often result in victims becoming incapacitated. People who fall ill from these diseases frequently need expensive and on-going medical care.

By taking out critical illness cover, you can ensure that you will be able to pay for the medical treatment that you will need if you become seriously ill.

Furthermore, if you become seriously ill, chances are that you will not be able to work. By providing a lump sum benefit, critical illness insurance covers this potential loss of income so that you can still pay your general living expenses.

This means that not only will you be able to provide for yourself in the event that you become critically ill, but you will also be able to ensure that your dependents are cared for.

Critical illness insurance can also be taken out to cover your children. This means that you will be able to ensure your children get all the treatment and care they need if they become seriously ill. It also means that if you or your spouse has to take time off work to care for a seriously ill child, you will still be able to meet your living expenses.

The real benefit of critical illness cover therefore is that it provides a financial safety net at a time when you might really need one.

About the Author:
(http://www.critical-illness-cover-uk.co.uk)Critical Illness Cover UK is an impartial information and advice site which offers visitors the opportunity to have a free consultation with a Critical Illness Insurance expert

Critical Illness Insurance And Life Insurance Cover For Better And For Worse

by Rachel Lane

There are three main types of insurance cover you can buy to protect yourself and your family: life insurance, private medical insurance and critical illness insurance. If you want your financial health to be completely bionic then you could choose all three types of insurance, but if your family finances are more restricted, it might be better to insure yourself with critical illness insurance and life insurance. Critical illness insurance should not be confused with private medical insurance or even income protection insurance and it’s important that you do a full evaluation of your needs before you pursue the different insurance options.

The purpose of critical illness cover (CIC) is to fill a gap that is left by traditional life insurance policies, which will only provide a pay-out on the death of the policy holder. CIC provides a tax free lump sum following the diagnosis of one of a number of life-threatening illnesses or certain types of surgery. The sorts of situations usually covered include the diagnosis of cancer, a stroke, a heart attack, the loss of a limb and many other serious disabilities.

Critical illness insurance policies are typically sold to cover mortgage repayments and are often sold alongside a life insurance package to ensure the borrower can repay the loan in all circumstances. It is worth noting that if a combined life insurance and critical illness cover package is taken out, then it would not be unusual for an insurer to pay out for only one of the events. Therefore if the policy holder suffers a critical illness and then dies at a later date, there will only be one pay-out – for the initial illness. It is essential whenever you take out a policy that you make sure it covers all of your needs and those of your family. Don’t estimate how much cover you may actually need. You will additionally need to consider the period for which you want critical illness cover, such as a set number of years to cover the mortgage or no fixed period at all, so you can maintain the policy as long as you need it.

The critical illness insurance market has come under increasing pressure in recent years, as the number of claims has soared, survival rates increased and medical science has made it far easier to detect serious conditions much earlier. These factors have prompted some serious questions about the viability of critical illness cover, particularly guaranteed products.

For the majority of people, the most important benefit of critical illness insurance is to protect their mortgage and most mortgage protection policies allow you to include life insurance and critical illness cover. If you already have life insurance in place, you can buy an additional, separate critical illness insurance policy.

Resources:
http://www.abi.org.uk/ The Association of British Insurers
http://www.moneynet.co.uk/insurance/index.shtml Consumer Insurance Comparison Research
http://www.moneynet.co.uk/home-car-travel-insurance-guide/index.shtml Insurance Guide

Disclaimer:
I am not a financial expert. Read my article, but do your own research. No lawsuits here please.

About the Author:
Rachel writes for the personal finance blog Cashzilla – personalfinanosaurus – licensed to roar. Rachel spends her not-so-free time researching and writing personal finance articles, but she gets through it with Smarties and Fruit Pastilles. To read more about Rachel and Cashzilla visit http://www.cashzilla.co.uk

Critical Illness Insurance The Non-Disclosure Problem

by Michael Challiner

If you're in the unfortunate position of having to make a claim on your critical illness insurance policy, the last thing you want is insensitive hassle or apparent non co-operation from your insurer. But according to numerous newspaper articles, that's precisely what's happening. The core problem is that before they'll pay out, the insurer will always want to make exhaustive enquiries about your past health record. Whilst you'll have provided them with lots of similar information when you initially applied for the cover, the insurers will now insist that all the information is rechecked. And if at the time you said you weren't a smoker, they'll now want this verified by your doctor.

The reasons are obvious. They're faced with a big claim, typically way over £100,00, and they want to be certain that you told them the entire truth about your health when you first applied. This means that now you've claimed, they'll crawl over your medical records in great detail checking that you disclosed everything on your application. Every small and apparently insignificant detail will be subject to intense scrutiny. The problem is that their reams of correspondence can be quite upsetting for you.

The insurers defend their procedures saying that they need to be certain that when they accepted the business, you disclosed the full truth about the factors affecting your health. They want to be sure that you didn't cheat by omitting some information in order to dupe the company into issuing a policy when they otherwise might not, or to help you qualify for a lower premium. Either way, non-disclosure as they call it, is cheating and a valid reason for them refusing your claim. It doesn't even matter if the information you omitted ultimately had nothing to do with the illness that occasioned the claim. The insurers position is that every piece of information you provide was used to work out your premium and any omission affects the calculation.

The insurers are particularly distrustful if the claim arrives within the policy's first five years. Any claim arising during this period is classed as an “early claim” and the insurers are particularly watchful for policyholders who took out the critical illness insurance already suspecting that that they were already ill.

The problem is that all this intense scrutiny attracts a very bad press. If you're very sick and distressed, the last thing you want is lots' of questions and high-handed hassle from your insurer.

There's undoubtedly a conflict here. If they are to neutralise the bad press, the insurance companies need to work much harder at softening the enquiry process and they must liase much more closely with their claimants. Insurers must present a much softer centre at what is a most distressing time for their claimants.

All this adverse PR has had two effects on the critical illness insurance market. Applicants have apparently been favouring insurers who publish the lowest rejection rates and others have withdrawn from making any application.

In practice, avoiding insurers who publish high refusal rates has little benefit. That's because the published figures can be misleading. The latest figures show that Scottish Equitable Protect has refused to pay out on 28% of critical illness claims followed closely by Friends Provident at 25%. If you compare these figures with Scottish Provident at 13.7%, many potential policyholders can be forgiven for favouring Scottish Provident. But that's not necessarily the best decision.

The problem with interpreting these figures is that the figures themselves can be distorted by how long the insurer has been active in the critical illness market. As rejection rates are highest with policies that have only run for a few years, then companies that are new to the critical illness market will automatically have the highest rejection rates. This leaves companies such as Guardian Financial Services looking good with a rejection rate of just 10%. The truth is that the Guardian has been in the market for over 15 years and has a mature book of business.

And it's a pity that all this negative publicity has undermined confidence in critical illness insurance. In our view, this insurance plays an important part in protecting family finances but people are being deterred from buying it, leaving their family unit exposed if they become seriously ill. After all, if the main income provider is taken seriously ill, the family's income can plummet. That means that the tax-free lump sum paid out by these policies can become central to the family's financial survival.

Our advice is if you think you need critical illness cover press on. But be aware that these policies vary a lot in the cover they offer - so straight price comparisons aren't really meaningful. Basic plans will cover one or more of the most serious conditions but comprehensive plans cover many more – for example:

Alzheimer's disease
Aorta graft surgery
Aplastic anaemia
Bacterial Meningitis
Benign brain tumour
Blindness
Cancer
Cardiomyopathy
Chronic lung disease
Coma
Coronary artery by-pass surgery
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Deafness
Dementia
Heart attack
Heart valve replacement or repair
HIV or AIDs from an assault, blood transfusion, occupational duties or accident
Keyhole heart surgery
Kidney failure
Loss of independent existence
Loss of limbs
Loss of speech
Major organ transplant
Motor Neurone disease
Multiple Sclerosis
Paralysis/Paraplegia
Parkinson's disease
Progressive Supranulcear Palsy
Stroke
Third degree burns
Total and Permanent Disability
Cover for children

This complexity means that you really need independent advice. There are plenty of web sites that can help you. Just search for “critical illness insurance” and make sure you can talk to an adviser before you buy.

About the Author:
Brokers Online offer online access to Critical Illness, Life Insurance and health insurance online

Group Critical Illness Insurance - The Cheaper Alternative To Keyman Insurance

by Michael Challiner

If you manage a small business you'll dread the possibility of a member of your team being be taken seriously ill or dieing. Apart from the personal upset, your business would be hit hard. Sales or production could take a dive, key skills could be lost and the general pace of the business could fall. All this costs the business money.

Insurance is available to offset those financial risks, risks that can be especially serious for smaller businesses. After all in smaller businesses other employees can't be moved across to fill the gap - there's simply no one spare. So the problem remains until the person either returns to work or is replaced.

If the person is off sick with a serious illness such as a stroke or a heart attack you simply don't know when, or if, they'll return to work. It could be a month, six months even a year or more. Management is then caught in a cleft stick. Do you take on a temporary employee, contract out or recruit a permanent employee? Or are you forced to tread water and wait for matters resolve themselves? That's risky. And how much will all this cost the business in terms of extra overheads, lost sales and profit?

Keyman Insurance has traditionally absorbed these very real financial risks but nine out of ten small businesses still don't carry that insurance. It's either because they haven't addressed the problem or they've found Keyman Insurance to be too costly.

A Simon Briault, a spokesperson for the Federation of Small Businesses said, “In an ideal world, small firms would be insured against everything, but reality demands the businesses prioritise threats and occasionally take risks”.

But there is a cheaper alternative. It's called Group Critical Illness Insurance. And it's about half the price of normal Keyman Insurance!

With Group Critical Illness Insurance, the management decides which employees to insure and how much to insure them for. The business then pays the premiums and receives any lump sum payout. A claim can be made as soon as any of the insured employees are diagnosed with any critical illness which is scheduled within the insurance policy. As you would expect heart attacks, strokes and cancer are the biggest three biggest reasons for a claim but the full list of insured critical illnesses is much longer. For example, kidney failure, meningitis, paralysis and even blindness.

The important point to realise is that to make a claim, the insured employee must survive at least 28 days after their critical illness is diagnosed. (Some insurance companies have now reduced this to 14 days so please check before you buy.) Therefore, if the employee were to die before the end of the survival period, any claim would be invalid. In that context, it's not as comprehensive as full Keyman Insurance – but at around half the price of there has to be some compromise!

Simon Burgess, the MD of British Insurance says: “Group Critical Illness Insurance is a real alternative to full Keyman Insurance - and at around half the cost, it's great value for money. If managers find Keyman Insurance too expensive there's little excuse for not covering the biggest part of the risk with Group Critical Illness Insurance. Don't pay the price for apathy”.

About the Author:
Express life insurance specialise in providing life insurance quotes along with providing a huge resource of life insurance information

It’s Not Just Individuals Who Should Be Considering Critical Illness Insurance

by Elizabeth Harfleet

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you or a loved one became critically ill? With 20% of all adults in the UK becoming seriously ill before reaching retirement age, now is the time to start planning for such an eventuality.

Critical Illness Cover enables people to protect themselves financially in the event that they or a dependent becomes seriously ill. It does this by paying out a tax free lump sum if a policy holder becomes seriously ill whilst they have cover.

This can provide much needed financial security in the event of serious illness. For instance, if a breadwinner has critically ill and cannot work he or she can use their policy payout to support themselves and their family.

Furthermore, critical illness insurance helps you to pay for expensive medical care which might otherwise cost more than you could afford.

Critical illness insurance does not just benefit individuals. It can benefit businesses too by offering financial aid if a key employee becomes incapacitated. Key employees include company directors; anyone responsible for the smooth running of the business.

However, despite the benefits of critical illness cover, only 10% of small businesses have policies in place for their key employees.

As a result many companies could be opening themselves up to financial risk. This is because if a key employee is prevented from working because of illness and is not covered by critical illness insurance the business is likely to suffer.

Critical illness insurance is something that statistics dictate that we all think about. Whilst the benefits offered by having a critical illness insurance policy in place can be significant in the event of serious illness. But critical illness insurance is not just beneficial to individuals- it also benefits businesses. Companies who do not have critical illness cover for their key employees should consider whether saving money on premiums will actually save them money in the long run.

About the Author:
(http://www.critical-illness-insurance-uk.org.uk/)Critical Illness Insurance UK is an impartial information and advice site which offers visitors the opportunity to have a free consultation with a Critical Illness Insurance expert