Critical illness cover is an important financial safety net. It’s designed to pay out a cash lump sum if you’re diagnosed with one of the critical illnesses in the individual insurer’s policy. The money paid out can be used in any way you like – to help pay a lump sum off your mortgage, enable you to stop working, or buy private medical care
Critical Illness Cover is designed to pay out in most circumstances including cancer, heart attack and stroke. However, because of advances in medicine not every type of cancer is classed as a critical illness. This is because if the cancer in question is discovered and treated early enough it will not have a severe impact on your lifestyle – for most insurers a cancer needs to have spread or reached a specified severity to be covered. Different providers will offer different levels of cover & we navigate the market to find the best one for you and your families circumstances.
As per Life Assurance, there are two types of cover - Decreasing & Level. We can go through the differences between the two types of cover with you and bespoke to your budget advise the best one which is for you.
Types of Cover
Increasing Cover
Decreasing Cover
Helps protect your cover against the effects of inflation, giving added protection for you and your loved ones.
Helps to pay off debt that's reducing over time, like a mortgage.
- Amount paid out in a lump sum
- Helps protect against the future effects of inflation
- Your cover increases each year in line with any increase in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
- If your cover increases, your premium will increase at a higher percentage rate
- Cover amount decreases each month broadly in line with a repayment loan using a fixed interest rate
- Premiums calculated when you take out the policy, and stay the same for the duration of the policy term