What would happen if you suffered a serious illness, such as a heart attack, cancer or stroke and survived – and were then, understandably, unable to swiftly return to work?
Critical Illness Cover is designed to pay out a lump sum, against a wide range of serious illnesses (if the condition was specified in your policy), thereby easing the immediate financial concerns.
However, recent research from Scottish Widows showed that only 9% of the general population have this cover in place. Of course, if you are employed, you may have the buffer of a period of disability cover as an employee benefit. After that, you would have to fall back on state benefits of limited value.
You are even more vulnerable if you are one of the 4.8m self-employed workers, where even less, at just 7%, have this cover in place. And to compound the problem, the same research also showed that a sizeable 62% of self-employed worker households are solely reliant on one wage earner’s income, compared with 52% of the overall population. (Source: Scottish Widows, October 2016)
Also, don’t think that this should only be a concern if you are much older, as the average age of critical illness claimants across many insurers is around the late 40s!
So it makes sense to have a chat with us to consider if a Critical Illness plan could meet your needs. If you do want to proceed, we can then discuss the level of cover you require, should you need to claim. Perhaps, for example, you want to have enough to pay off the mortgage, or alternatively you may decide to opt for less cover (meaning a lower premium too), but still have enough to see you through the initial period as you recover.
Do get in touch if you would like to find out more.
As with all insurance policies, terms, conditions and exclusions will apply.