Critical Illness Insurance
Guide
A cash sum you can keep,
even if you make a full recovery...
Critical illness insurance will pay you a tax free cash lump
sum or income upon diagnosis of any one of a wide range of
critical illnesses such as some forms of Cancer, Heart Attack,
Stroke, Brain Tumor and many more.
Most critical illness insurance policies will also pay out
if, due to accident or sickness, you are totally and
permanently disabled and unable to continue your
occupation.
Diagnosis of a critical illness would be a major
trauma in your life and those around you.
However, your financial commitments would remain and any
life insurance wouldn´t pay out until your death. Your
employer may pay your salary for a few months but your
illness may prevent you from returning to work
altogether.
A Change
of Lifestyle
For many, the crisis will not be over when the
illness is cured. Only when the doctors have healed you
do the practical, long term problems
materialise.
The costs can be substantial:
- the cost of convalescence &
treatment.
- the cost of a change of
lifestyle.
- the cost of a change of career.
- the cost of fulfilling a lifetime
ambition.
A serious illness could affect you, and
surviving could mean a whole new way of life.
Critical illness insurance can ease the financial burden,
giving you the opportunity of a second
lifetime.
BUYING TIPS
- What illnesses are covered? There are
usually two levels of cover, a basic level that
includes the six major conditions and more
comprehensive protection that includes many
more.
- Check the survival period. To make a claim
you have to survive for a set time after your
diagnosis, usually between 14 days and 3 months. The
shorter the survival time the better.
- Critical Illness insurance is not life
cover and wont pay out if you die. If you need
life insurance it is cheaper to buy a combined
policy.
- Is children's cover included? Some policies
will pay a lump sum benefit if your children are
diagnosed with an illness covered by your
plan.
- Does the policy include a counselling
service? This can be a great help if you develop a
serious illness.
THE COST
The cost will depend on a number of factors,
the most important being your age, sex, lifestyle, if you
smoke and your general health.
POLICY OPTIONS
You can include one or more options to improve
the level of protection provided by your policy. Adding
any of these options will increase the
premiums.
- Waiver of Premium
- If you cannot follow your normal
occupation because of illness or injury, the
insurance company will pay your premiums to maintain
the benefits under the policy.
- Indexation - You cover and premiums are increased each
year to combat the effects of inflation.
- Life Insurance - You can insure against death as an
option. Be aware that most combined life and
critical illness insurance policies will
automatically cease if you were to claim for a
critical illness leaving you without vital life
cover. However, there are policies which will allow
the life cover to continue. These are most commonly
know as `double event´ plans and are more costly.
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