Critical Illness Insurance Do You Really Need It, Or Is It A
Waste Of Time?

GREAT NEWS! There’s now a one in five chance of you winning the
lottery before you retire


Getting excited? Think it’s just a matter of time before you
win? Think again, it’s not going to happen – but it got you
thinking!
Now think of the same odds but this time about bad news There
is a 1 in 5 chance for men and a 1 in 6 chance for women that a
long-term critical illness will prevent them from working Sorry
- this time it’s true


Insurance cannot change those odds but it can alleviate the
potential financial wreckage caused by being unable to work
through long-term illness and still having a family and home to
support


Convention declares that every good family man should have life
insurance It’s easily understood, it’s accepted and your next
door neighbour has it too But what about it’s close cousin critical illness
insurance? You’ll have to walk several streets to find
someone who has it Given the odds, why? After all it pays out a
tax-free lump sum immediately an insured critical illness is
diagnosed


The usual reason given is its expense Yes it is more expensive
than life insurance but after all it’s providing cover for a
greater risk You’re much more likely to experience a critical
illness than die before your normal retirement age Indeed, the
average age for a claim is 47 So clearly there is much more to
the public’s resistance


Not understanding the risks or “head in the sand syndrome” are
certainly major factors After all a lzheimer’s disease,
bacterial meningitis, brain tumours and leukaemia plus the long
list of other illnesses typically covered by critical illness
insurance, are not matters we care to think of nor know much
about


Could there be another reason? Well there have been repeated
newspaper articles about people who claim on their critical
illness policy only to have it turned down on an apparent
technicality – the inference being that the insurance company
cannot be trusted Indeed, Standard Life freely admits that it
turns down around 20 % of critical illness claims


The truth is that behind every story of rejection there’s a
harrowing story of illness, distress and sorrow – and potential
copy for the journalist But that in itself, is not evidence
that the insurance company is guilty of devious behaviour



Yes insurance companies do make mistakes, but more often than
not the claim was invalid from the outset There are two main
causes Firstly, the policyholder is claiming for an illness
that is not one of the critical illnesses scheduled in the
policy documentation Regrettable, but it’s a fact that if the
illness is not listed it isn’t insured and the policy won’t pay
out


The moral is to closely compare the illnesses covered by
competing insurance companies and buy the one with the most
extensive coverage of illnesses If you don’t, sods law will
prevail


The second major reason for refusal is a failure to disclose
all relevant matters on the original application form For
example, if the applicant fails to disclose in response to the
insurance company’s questions that his father a died of a heart
attack aged 50 or that he is having medical tests for headaches,
then the insurance company will wrongly assess the risks it is
being invited to insure Had the insurance company known this
extra information they might have increased the premium, or
asked the applicant to go for a medical examination, or waited
for the outcome of tests, or even refused to provide cover By
failing to disclose, the applicant has effectively obtained
cover on false pretences or at least on inaccurate information



Thereby lies the second moral Always provide the truth and
the full truth on your application form Anything remotely
relevant to your medical condition must be disclosed


All this points to the need for professional insurance advice
Critical Illness policies do vary and it can take an experienced
eye to evaluate the best policy for your circumstances and
pocket This doesn’t mean that you have to miss out on the
discounted premiums available online – but do thoroughly talk it
through with one of their telephone based advisers and do make
sure you read the schedule of claimable illnesses when it
arrives in the post
Then sit back knowing you’ve taken another important step to
protect your family’s finances Lets all hope that you’re one of
the majority who are happy never to claim


It’s now time to concentrate on enjoying life

Tags | brain, critical, family, Finance, illness, illnesses, inference, leukaemia, neighbour, news, normal, policy, retirement, tumours, winning