InsuranceLecturer — Critical illness insurance can be a very important and comprehensive form of insurance. It is designed to pay you a tax free lump sum of money should you be diagnosed with a critical illness that is detailed within your specific policy conditions. It is important that you do your research into the best policy that will suit your needs as there are a number of different plans that are available in the market.
Critical illness insurance could be bought in a number of different formats. You can take family or term critical illness insurance, this is designed to pay you a level lump sum of money that could be used to protect family. This type of critical illness insurance is also sometimes used to protect against an interest only mortgage.
An interest only mortgage is ideally suited to be protected like this because the sum assured remains level and constant throughout the full policy term. You can also take your critical illness insurance in a mortgage or decreasing format. This is ideal to protect your mortgage if it is a capital and repayment version. the sum assured will decrease over the term you decide to take it and offer protection to ensure your mortgage gets paid off should you make a claim on your plan.
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Many people also decide to take the critical illness insurance combined with life insurance, this can be a very comprehensive form of insurance and in the majority of cases you can get the life insurance part of the plan for a nominal charge or in some circumstances for free. This would mean that you have a very good plan that would pay a lump sum tax free should you either die or be diagnosed with a critical illness or die.
You may decide to take your insurance on a single or a joint basis, this can provide cover for a husband and wife or for business partners. This type of insurance is often described as joint life first death, where the plan would pay upon the first diagnosis of a critical illness or first death within the plan.
As there are so many different variations in the insurance plans avialable it is always best advice to seek assistance and discuss your needs with a protection expert. This will ensure the most appropriate policy is taken that will suit your needs.
What is generally excluded from a critical illness insurance policy?
In this day and age the population is growing up a lot quicker and increasing and changing all the time. By this I mean that people are having children and getting married a lot younger, earlier and quicker than they used to. This never used to be the case but things have changed so much it is very much a different world now.
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This means more responsibility and more reason and need for insurance such as critical illness insurance to protect their loved ones. The world of insurance is really quite complex. There are so many different products and providers that are available to purchase, for so many different insurances, with a range of different prices and levels of cover to choose from, no wonder it can be a complex decision.
With regards to taking out critical illness insurance the rules, regulations and stipulations are generally set out by an association called the Association of British Insurers which can be known as and abbreviated to the ABI. They set guidelines and put them in place for every member of the association to follow and adhere to.
With regards to insurance companies that offer products that involve critical illness insurance, they are monitored very closely and must adhere to the guidelines set. The ABI provide a standard list of just what will not be covered and excluded when it comes to the submission of a claim regardless of whether the cause is directly or indirectly by any of the things that they don’t cover. This list generally includes:
- The usage of drugs
- Being involved in hazardous activities, pastimes or sport
- Self inflicted harm or injury
- AIDS or HIV
- The involvement of criminal acts
- War and other commotion
- Residing out of the covered areas such as abroad
- Failure to follow medical advice given.
This means that if a policyholder submitted a claim and any of the above were found to be involved, the claim would possibly be rejected or turned down. These exclusions apply to some of the registered companies that sell insurance. Upon request an insurance provider will send you a specimen of their terms and conditions which will allow you to see just what is and isn’t covered.
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Other common medical conditions that an insurance company may exclude are pre existing medical conditions. These will not be covered because they already exist prior to the insurance being incepted. In some cases if the condition is very well controlled, in remission or years old, the insurance company may refer the application to a re-assurer. This means that the case will be looked at in great detail and then a decision will come back from them.
The insurance company can choose to cover any other cause or reason that they feel necessary as there are no restrictions. This is when a consumer looking for a critical illness insurance policy should do some shopping around for the best policy for the best affordable premium. The reason the Association of British Insurers do this is to protect the consumer and ensure that all claims are fair.
Generally there should be no insurance company that is not registered with the ABI – Association of British Insurers or the FSA – Financial Services Authority; otherwise they are not allowed to sell insurance products. If they are un-monitored they can affect consumer’s rights considerably because they don’t have to adhere to anyone or anything. It is your duty as the consumer to check that where you buy your insurance from is a regulated firm to ensure that you are protected. There are many reputable and well heard of names of insurance providers out there along with different ways to purchase the insurance.