Critical Illness
Critical Illness insurance protects you from the costs of being unable to work due to illnesses against conditions such as heart attacks, strokes and advanced cancers.Known as 'Critical Illnesses', these conditions don't always prove fatal but they do normally result in a dramatic effect on your life, which may mean you are unable to work and enjoy the things you did before. It may also mean that you need specialist medical care or surgery, for which you could be waiting a long time on an NHS waiting list. The cover itself will pay a lump sum when you are diagnosed with one of the specified critical illnesses on the insurance companies list of illnesses covered.
Why would I need Critical illness insurance?
Critical Illness Insurance is something which should be considered by everyone but especially if you have a mortgage, debts or a family that would suffer financially without your income.
Do all the insurance companies cover the same critical illnesses?
No, not all insurance companies cover the same illnesses as part of their Critical Illness insurance. They all have to cover the Association of British Insurance guidelines but above and beyond those many companies choose to cover additional illnesses.
Typical critical illness conditions covered
Full details of the conditions covered by each company can be found in the policies Key Features Document but a general list is shown below:
Alzheimer's
Aorta Graft Surgery
Benign Brain Tumour
Blindness
Advanced Cancers
Coma
Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts
Deafness
Heart Attack
Heart Valve Replacement
Kidney Failure
Loss of Hands or Feet
Loss of Speech
Major Organ Transplant
Motor Neurone Disease
Multiple Sclerosis
Paralysis of Limbs
Parkinson's
Stroke
Terminal Illness
Third Degree Burns
Traumatic Head Injury
'Critical Illness 'The Facts'
You can't predict a critical illness, but you can prepare for the financial impact it would have on you and your family.
More than 1 in 3 people in Britain will develop cancer at some time in their lifetime
Over 1/2 million people in England have had a heart attack at some point and a further 1.7 million suffer from angina.
Cardiovascular disease is still the biggest killer in the UK, resulting in more than 45,000 deaths amongst individuals aged less than 75 years in 2010.
In 2010, cardiovascular disease caused around 46,000 premature deaths in the UK; 68% of these were men.
More than a quarter of adults in England are obese.
The two most common cancers for men in 2011 were prostate 25.6% and Lung cancer 13.8%.
The two most common cancers for women in 2011 were breast 30.7% and lung 11.6% From those diagnosed with cancer in 2007, it's predicted that 46% of men and 56% of women in England and Wales will survive their cancer for five years or more. Whilst people are recovering more and more from critical illness, the long term financial consequenses can be devastating.
British Heart Foundation October 2012
Office of National Statistics June 2013
Cancer Research UK December 2012
HSCIC April 2016 report.
Cancer Research April 2014
