Life insurance with critical illness cover is an insurance plan which pays a tax-free lump sum should you be diagnosed with any of the conditions covered on the policy. It is widely available from a number of different insurance companies. The strong growth of life and critical illness insurance policy numbers over recent years could be linked to the prevalence of critical illness. Statistics have shown little increase in the incidence of critical illness i.e. the number of people who get a critical illness in a given time period. However, due to advances in medical technology the prevalence of critical illness has increased i.e. the number of people with a critical illness at a given time. Today, medical teams can provide life-prolonging cures and operations for a number of serious conditions. Therefore, more people are surviving serious conditions. However, evidence also shows that a large proportion of those that do survive are left with a certain degree of disability. Thus the person’s ability to pursue normal everyday activities including work may be limited.
Life insurance with critical illness – Life insurance with critical illness cover – Life insurance with critical illness insurance
When taking into account today’s statistics, it could argued that there is a fundamental need for critical illness cover. Many of us are probably not in a fortunate enough situation whereby should we suffer a critical illness we have sufficient savings or other means of income to financial meet our needs and/or that of our family. We may recover relatively quickly from a critical illness, but regrettably, sometimes we may never return to our previous lifestyle.
The tax-free lump sum payable from a life critical illness insurance plan upon the diagnosis of one of the specified conditions can be used in any way we see fit. This maybe to pay off our mortgage, debts, pay the bills, provide a regular income to live off, used to pay for treatment, adaptations to our home etc. Basically, the insurance company make no stipulations on how the money should be used. Therefore, by having a life insurance with critical illness plan in place we are providing ourselves with the peace of mind that should the unthinkable happen we have the financial means by which to survive.