What are the premium options when taking out a Critical Illness Policy?
All insurance providers are slightly different in terms of what you would be covered but the following is what you could typically expect.
Alzheimer’s disease (before the age of 65), Traumatic Head Injury, Aorta Graft Surgery, Third Degree Burns, Aplastic Anaemia, Stroke, Bacterial Meningitis, Respiratory Failure, Benign Brain Tumour, Parkinson’s Disease, Blindness, Paralysis of limbs, Cancer, Open Heart Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Rheumatoid Arthritis, Motor Neurone Disease, Deafness, Major Organ Transplant, Heart Attack, Loss of Speech or Independence, HIV Infection (caught from blood transfusion), Liver Failure, Kidney Failure or Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus.
It has to be noted that some types of cancers are not covered and cover is dependent on the provider.
When taking out a critical illness policy you choose the amount you wish to be covered for, the ore you wish to be covered by the more the monthly premiums will be. So if you were to suffer from one of the illnesses above then the policy would then pay out the lump sum agreed. However it does depend on whether you chose a level term policy or a mortgage protection policy. If you were to choose the level term policy this would mean that the benefit amount (sum assured) would stay the same throughout the term of the policy however if you were to choose a mortgage protection policy the benefit amount would decrease in line with you mortgage therefore the benefit amount would reduce on a yearly basis.
It is also good to note that most providers will cover your children up to the age of 18 at no extra cost. When your children turn 18 they could then take out their own critical illness policy. Your children would be covered for all of the above illnesses and operations apart from insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and would only be covered for the benefit amount of £25,000 or up to the maximum of twenty five percent of the policy amount.