Critical Illness Cover - Critical Illness

If you have got as far as selecting the company to which you are going to apply for a critical illness policy you are about to start the underwriting process. It is at this stage when you should think about any previous medical conditions you have or any dangerous pastimes that you may have and declare them to your financial advisors.

After this step you will have to complete the application form, you should always answer all questions as completely and truthfully as you possibly can. Any advisers worth their weight at this stage will help you with any questions you may have with the application form.

This application form then gets submitted to your chosen insurance provider, this will be assessed by them and looked at by an underwriter. An underwriter can decide to accept the application on its merits and offer cover there and then or they could decide to go and get a GP report on the client. The GP report could be very specific or it could be just picking up general medical information. It is worth mentioning at this point that GP’s get paid from the insurance companies for each report they complete, so there should be no excuses when they drag their feet. The underwriter may also ask for a medical examination, normally these are carried out by a nurse at the home or you can sometimes be called into your GP’s surgery. Once all the information has been gathered the underwriter will look back over the case and decide what to do next. They could offer cover on standard terms, ie exactly what was applied for, they could offer it with an additional premium as they believe you are a higher risk, they could defer making a decision or they could decline you.

Once you have crossed the hurdle of selecting the right insurance provider for your critical care policy, you are a step away from the underwriting stage. This is the one stage of obtaining the policy that you have to think clearly of your own medical history as well as that of your immediate family. You should also include any dangerous habit or hobby you may have. This will give the agents at the insurance company a better way to assess your case and give you the best possible premium rate.

With all the facts in hand, you will have to work at completing the application form that comes from the company. Answering this as truthfully as possible is mandatory. If you have financial advisers guiding you, it is best to listen to all that they have to say.

With this done, the application will be submitted at the office of your preferred agency. It will be assessed by financial consultants of the firm and then will have an underwriter look into it. It is the job of the underwriter to determine whether your application is fit enough to be considered by the company. If any further clarifications are needed on your overall health, then you will be taken to a GP for further consultation. This GP will be under the aegis of the company. The report submitted by the GP will be an extremely detailed one. You do not have to worry about the GP delaying your application. It is in their best interest to do it as fast as possible, since they are paid per application.

A physical examination may also be asked for which is again conducted by medical staff in the comfort of your home or at a designated clinic. Once all of this information is made available to the GP, the case will return to the underwriter and they will re-examine your file. The premium that they will offer you will depend on the outcome of all of these tests. Any addition to the premium will be done on a case to case basis. There are also times when the premiums or tenures will be left up to you.