Critical Illness Policies Exist In Two Different Forms

Category: Finance, Insurance.

The critical illness policies firstly launched in the UK was simple compared to those we can find today. Total and Permanent Disability was also included to catch a range of severe illnesses which could change the lifestyle of someone.

During the year 1990 the core set of illnesses had already been defined as cancer, stroke, heart attack, CABG, major organ transplant and kidney failure. Moreover, the number of critical illness covered broadened rapidly. Therefore, as each company marketed its critical illness policy, it has to make sure that the critical illness policy contained something unique. This was due to many other insurance companies stepping in the insurance market hence elevating competition. This uniqueness could have then helped to attract potential customers seeking for critical illness insurance. With 30 critical illness issues, one could expect loads of conditions to be read. It was said that the long list of critical illness conditions covered, sometimes 30 or more may no longer be important.

These could have been most of the time poorly understood by the policyholder as confusion may have aroused resulting in loss of benefits. People could select a basic policy which covered from 6 to 10 critical illness conditions. Critical illness policies exist in two different forms. Meanwhile other customers could choose the comprehensive policy which covered up to 30 illnesses. This policy covered a few major and some common illnesses such as cancer, heart attack and stroke. Additionally, some critical illness insurers had also designed a budget stand alone critical illness policy.

Unfortunately this type of critical illness policy never made an impact over the insurance market. ac. This then aroused several questions on the severity of each critical illness. Furthermore, as time passed new critical illnesses were discovered. People preferred the simplicity of a policy and the way they would benefit from the payout, hassle free. This is in fact not just an affirmation. At that point an argument could affirm that less benefits be paid according to a less severe critical illness.

This process is used in the South Africa and has not yet been adopted in the UK. This pushed IFA towards finding a solution. The variation of critical illness cover in the insurance market among companies did not make it favourable in the IFA market. IFA worked hard until the fruit finally yielded. Nowadays, many critical illness insurance companies consider seven major diseases in their policy statements. In 1994, IFA attained standardised definitions for critical illness cover which comprised of the six core critical illness classifications.

The fine print of the policy may have surely something to reveal. Sometimes policies define what they cover and they will not. Reading the critical illness policy attentively can be a wise thing to do. If you are not sure to understand everything when buying a critical illness cover, you could request the help of a specialised person. With enough education over the subject you could then choose a critical illness cover that may suit you best.