The reasons you should consider a critical illness insurance policy.
Critical illness cover or CIC as it’s known by is a type of insurance that pays out a lump sum if are unlucky enough to be diagnosed with one of a number of medical conditions listed in the terms of the policy you take.
It’s designed to help your family and you cope with the financial aspects of your diagnosis and inability to work. This enables you to focus on getting back to full health without the added stresses and strains of worrying about the bills.
The difference between Life insurance and critical illness cover (CIC).
CIC is designed to provide you with a lump sum to help with the costs, treatment and other outgoings you may have while you are unable to work. A critical illness policy is not designed for helping your family with ongoing monetary commitments if you were to pass away. It is primarily meant for the costs associated with getting you back on your feet again.
Life insurance is designed however is designed to help your family after your death. For example to pay off your mortgage and other debts such as car finance or credit cards and loans. It is often used to leave as an inheritance for children or maybe to pay for their education or wedding.
CIC with life insurance or as a stand-alone product?
Quite often you will find that C.I.C is offered to you at the same time as your life insurance, or you will talk to family and friends who will tell you that they have it as a part of their already running L.I policy. It’s important that you are sure whether or not you already have C.I.C. It could make a big impact on your finances in the future. If you don’t already have this cover in place you need to look into how it will be able to help you if you were unable to work due to illness or made redundant.
If you are lucky enough to have C.I.C as part of your existing cover you may find that you are also covered for a “terminal benefit” as part of your life insurance. The benefit of this to you and your family is that if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness you will be eligible to receive insurance payout in the 12 months before you die.
Again, you will need to get the terms of your life insurance policy checked to have all of the benefits explained to you.
If you are at all unsure the best type of cover you need and how to go about making sure that you are making the best decision financially for your family you should speak with one of our fully trained, empathetic and knowledgeable advisers who will do a search of the market-place to provide you with the best and most appropriate levels of cover, in accordance with your income and expenditure requirements.
Call us on 0800 009 6434 today.
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/critical-illness-insurance-do-you-need-it