It is virtually impossible to forecast critical illness. It may strike at any time, regardless of your age or financial situation. If ever you fall ill, or are diagnosed with an illness or a disability, critical illness cover will pay you a lump sum of money.
In the case of a major medical emergency, individual or group critical illness cover may well be the only thing separating you from a financial disaster. If you’re looking to find out what critical illness cover entails, if it’s for you, and when you need it, we’re here to outline all you need to know.
What is critical illness cover?
Critical illness cover does exactly as it says: it’s an incredibly useful type of life insurance that assures both you and your family can survive financially if you become critically ill. The illnesses that are often covered by this insurance are critical and therefore include long-term and highly dangerous illnesses such as a heart attack or diseases such as cancer.
This insurance type is developed to assist you and your family financially when you struggle with your diagnosis, allowing you to focus on your health recovery, rather than stressing about how you will pay your illness-related expenses.
Why you need critical illness cover
Both personal and group critical illness cover gives you a viable, long-term solution to what may typically be a long-term illness. Unless you are fortunate enough to have a considerable wealth of money that you can spend to cover illness costs, and look after yourself or a family member when either of you becomes critically ill, you’ll have to deal with the increased costs of living while being seriously unwell.
Without critical illness cover, you or a loved one may be forced to either stop working for a short period, or completely for the inevitable future for that matter, or hire a carer or some sort of you to look after you, on top of other potential costs – none of which comes cheap.
Your concern and worries about being ill may never go away, even with critical illness cover. But, when you do have this insurance, the concerns about the financial repercussions that come with your illness will be drastically reduced, which will allow you to take your mind off the financial stress and put all your concentration into recovery.
When you need critical illness cover
Of course, we’ve explained that critical illness cover is needed when you or a loved one is critically ill, but here are related reasons why you may need it:
- When you and your family heavily depend on your income.
- You lack an employee benefits package that can cover a long time off work due to illness.
- If you become extremely ill or disabled and don’t have enough money in savings to cover your expenses.
How much cover do you need?
Consider the expenses you’d have to pay if you became ill and couldn’t work. If you have children, you should make sure that they are taken care of in case your health prevents you from working.
So, there you have it – all the basics you need to know about critical illness cover. All that is left to do is consider your personal circumstances, do thorough research, and take the first steps reducing future financial pressures.
