What is critical illness protection?

Critical illness protection is another name for critical illness cover, an insurance policy which will pay out a tax free lump sum to the customer if they are diagnosed with a critical illness from the insurance company’s critical illness list. All critical illness insurance companies will have a slightly different list so it’s important to pick an insurer who covers the illnesses that you deem most important.

Why do I need critical illness protection?

Critical illness protection is an important insurance policy for anyone with financial responsibility as it will give you serious illness cover financially at a time when you need it the most.

Those who are self employed on work on short term contracts will feel the effects of a critical illness the quickest, as they will be unable to work and earn money, which will have a knock on effect on their finances.

Even those in regular employment will find that even the best insurance policies often run out after six months leaving them without pay, and those who earn bonuses and commission regularly will lose these if they are ill in many situations.

Critical illness protection will pay out a lump sum to your family which will allow you to replace your lost income, and will make the whole critical illness a slightly less stressful time, as you will not need to worry about the financial side of your illness.

Where does critical illness protection come from?

Critical illness protection was created by a doctor in 1983 in South Africa. Dr Barnard was the first ever surgeon to perform a heart transplant and worked with many patients with critical illnesses. He grew frustrated that his patients were expending more energy worrying about their financial situations than they were on getting better, and created the insurance policy as a result.

Critical illness protection has gone from strength to strength and is now offered all over the world.

From initially having just four illnesses covered by the first policy, the average policy now has over 50 illnesses, and one policy has over 160 different critical illnesses it covers.

Critical illness protection is an important part of life and critical illness cover policies as well and is offered in many different forms in the UK.