All Insurance Professionals

The prognosis for many people suffering from some forms of serious illness is far from poor given the advances made by medical science, however, the financial prognosis may be rather different. In a nutshell, that’s why it may make sense to give consideration to serious illness insurance:

• if you are diagnosed with a serious illness, you may find that it and any associated treatment, mean that you may be unable to work for a significant length of time;
• although some employers have excellent sickness benefit schemes, they may not be entirely open ended and you may find that your income starts to reduce (that, of course, ignores those employers that only have a very limited scheme or situations where you are self-employed);
• that sort of income reduction may start to bite at a time when your basic living costs are rapidly rising as a result of your condition (additional domestic help, specialist equipment around the home and so on);
• if you have serious illness insurance, however, you may be able to claim a lump-sum upon diagnosis (there may be a waiting period in the case of some policies) that you can spend as you wish, towards maintaining your financial life;
• there is also a form of cover called critical illness protection – a critical illness comparison against serious illness cover may typically indicate that the latter may be claimed against several times for different illnesses, whereas critical illness cover typically can only be claimed against once;
• if you are performing a serious versus critical illness comparison, you may also find that a serious illness policy may tend to cover a larger number of conditions than one providing critical cover;
• no life cover is typically included with a standard serious illness policy though it may be combined to provide a broader spectrum cover if required;
• because the nature of cover can vary among providers, do ensure that you fully understand what the policy cover entails, as well as any exclusions. That way you can feel confident of getting the most appropriate protection. If you are ever unsure, speak to a specialist;
• serious illness insurance might allow you to escape the financial worries that may come hand-in-hand with a serious illness but it is important to keep in mind that pre-existing conditions may be excluded from cover or subject to special terms and conditions.