Critical illness cover is a type of insurance that covers serious illness by paying a tax-free amount to you. The medical diseases and injuries which are covered by the critical illness insurance are specified in the insurance policies.
According to a report of ABI, almost 1 million workers in the United Kingdom become unable to go to work because of some injury or illness, unexpectedly. You never know what situation you might get land in the future. So, it always better to cover yourself and your loved ones in an hour of need.
In this article, we will discuss everything you need to know about the critical illness cover. Is it worth buying? How much it pays in the hour of need? And what type of coverage it provides? You will find the answers to all of these questions here. So, let’s get started.
What is the coverage of critical illness insurance?
Critical illness will pay you a specified amount of money if you get ill due to specific medical conditions or chronic injuries listed in the company’s policy. The list of the condition can vary from company to company, some insurance can include up to 60 or more diseases or injuries.
But, some of the companies would not pay you until your condition has reached a certainstageeven if it is on the list. For example, some companies will not pay you for your cancer claim until it reaches a certain stage.
Therefore, It is important to read the policy before buying it. So, that you can know under what condition you can made claim.
Some of the diseases that are covered by most of the companies are:
- Stroke
- Heart attack
- Specific types and stages of cancers
- Loss of limbs
- Renal failure
- Chronic conditions such as Multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer’s disease, etc.
How many pay-out a critical illness insurance cover?
Most of the policy will pay just for once then it ends. Some policies can also pay you in small amounts if you got diagnosed with less severe disease. And in this case, you can claim again if you diagnose with a critical illness in the future.
Some policies can also pay you some amount of money if one of your children is diagnosed with any of the diseases specified in the list.
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How much critical illness insurance cost?
The amount you pay for critical illness insurance can vary. The amount of monthly premium you will pay depends upon various factors such as:
- Your age– The older you are, the more you will pay because there are high chances that you can make a claim.
- Your health, your weight, your lifestyle, your family medical history, and the number of diseases you have currently.
- Your smoking habits– if you smoke you have to pay more in premiums because are at high risk of getting a critical illness.
- Your job– some jobs are considered high-risk jobs and if you have such a job you have to pay high premiums in your insurance.
It is important that you should pay your premiums regularly. Because once you stop paying them your insurance company will stop covering you for critical illness if you have any. Also, you should know that if you never had any critical disease in your life and unable to make a valid claim.There is no way you are getting back your premiums.
You can reduce the cost of premiums by reducing the cost by modifying your lifestyle in a healthy way. For example, If you area smoker you can quit smoking or if you are overweight, you can lose some weight. All these measures will significantly reduce the cost of your insurance.
Do You Need Critical Illness Coverage?
You should consider getting critical illness insurance because sometimes state benefits are not enough to support your family if anything bad happens. You should get critical illness cover if:
- You have a history of critical and chronic diseases in your family.
- You are the sole earner and don’t have enough savings to support your family if any unfortunate situation happens.
- Your company does not provide you with an employee benefits package if you are not able to attend your work for a longer time due to illness
Why should you need a critical illness cover when you have life insurance?
The major difference is that life insurance is provided to your family when you die, while critical illness insurance is the amount paid when you are diagnosed with a specified illness. This means that life insurance does not pay you when you become ill and need money for treatment.
In life insurance, the money is paid to your family after your death to help them financially after your death. It gives control of how they want to spend the money after getting it by making a valid claim. But with the critical illness insurance cover, you are paid when you made a valid claim. And can pay your bills, mortgages or your medical treatments, etc., to support your family, while you recover.
In some companies’ policies, children’s critical illness cover is also included but in life insurance, there is no such type of coverage. You can add critical illness cover to your life insurance policy by paying some extra money.
Also read: What are Some Common General Liability Claims?
Final Verdict
You should buy a critical illness cover for yourself if you are the onlymember who earns in your family and has a family history of chronic disease. Due to the current lifestyle which has limited physical activities, diseases like stroke, heart failure, cancers, renal impairments are becoming more common. The cost of treatment of all these diseases can be a real problem for you when you don’t have enough savings.
Having a critical illness cover can give you some relief to you and your family in the time of difficulties by paying you some money when you made a valid claim. So,you will have one less thing on your plate to worry about during such tense times.
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