The importance of Critical Illness Cover
To quote a founding father of the United States, one Benjamin Franklin: “The only things certain in life are death and taxes”. There is not much most of us can do about taxes – Monaco is a bit pricey – but when entering that voluntary financial burden so beloved of the British people, the mortgage, a life assurance policy is usually put in place to cover the fallout when the taxes end. Taking out life assurance is in fact mandatory for many new mortgage deals, ensuring that the mortgage payments are covered in the event of death (and perhaps pay out a little to a beneficiary such as a loved one). However, recent statistics reveal that only a small number of us take out a policy that is five times more likely to be invoked before we reach retirement age: critical illness cover.
Critical illnesses are, as the name suggest, things like heart attacks and strokes, and it is these kinds of events that the average person in Britain today is five times more likely to suffer than death (before the age of 65).
Critical illness cover provides a financial cushion in the result of a diagnosis of serious illness – and unlike life assurance, if you are unlucky enough to activate a payout from critical illness cover, at least you will be able to spend some of the money! Critical Illness cover protects not just against the loss of income that comes with being unable to work when seriously ill, it provides the funds to enable a more stress free lifestyle to hopefully aid recovery, and is available to retired as well as working age people. When you take the policy out, the sum insured is usually the remainder left on your mortgage.
Payments from Critical illness cover hinge on a diagnosis of one of the specified conditions covered by an approved specialist, usually a consultant in a U.K. hospital. There can be over 30 conditions covered by critical illness insurance, but each policy is different. Get an over view of a typical policy by going online and looking at the cover offered by insurers such Legal & General (see their website for more info on critical illness cover). After you have familiarised yourself with the main types of ailments covered, you will be able to select a policy that covers your particular needs, given your medical history. As with all insurance policies, the devil is in the details, so ensure you make time to give the small print a thorough read.