Critical illness insurance pays out if you develop a critical illness. The name says it all. It is increasingly popular as medicine can cure many more serious illnesses but patients may not be able to carry on working either full time or at all.

Along with life insurance it is a big step towards ensuring your family is covered and will be able to keep paying the bills. It is of course a heavily regulated sector of the insurance industry and all critical illness policies have to cover some common problems.

Main Illnesses Covered.

Cancer is covered in all polices although there is now some attempt to vary the terms depending on the cancer and it’s seriousness. Not all cancers are the same in terms of survival rates with some being very curable and others less so. So most policies will actually list the types of cancer they cover and those they may either exclude or pay out less on for a limited time.

Heart disease is covered and this usually means a heart attack rather than angina or high blood pressure. Some policies may also pay out if you need an operation like a heart bypass, but with the increasing use of minimally invasive surgery using telescopes payouts may be limited. Overall recovery after telescopic surgery is far, far quicker than after traditional open heart surgery.

Strokes resulting in permanent symptoms and problems. Again the policy should spell out clearly which of the many possible symptoms are covered. Mini strokes may be excluded, as they leave no residual problems.

Most policies cover a wider range of conditions than the here above. Other conditions including neurological problems, kidney disease, organ transplants, respiratory problems, loss of hearing or sight may well be covered. Your policy will clearly list all the diseases covered and hopefully also those not covered.

As with buying anything the key to the best deal both in terms of price and the amount of cover is to shop around and look at several companies before buying your critical illness insurance.