In recent years sales of critical illness insurance have flagged. The
primary cause is the huge 70% increase in premiums experienced during
recent years. For many, critical illness insurance has simply priced
itself out of the market.
It's not that critical illness insurance is a bad idea. After all it
pays out a lump sum if the policyholder is diagnosed with one of the
many critical illnesses listed on the policy and the policyholder
survives at least 28 days from diagnosis. (Note: some policies have a 14
day survival period.) Most policies have a huge list of insured
illnesses although about 60% of claims are for cancer - not surprising,
as 1 in every 3 people will develop cancer sometime in their lifetime.
In fact when you look at the concept of Critical illness insurance you
can easily make a case that everyone living on earned income should have
a policy. It's designed to give you a pot of capital to live on if
serious illness prevents you from working normally.
Premiums have increased dramatically because medical advances have meant
that many illnesses that proved fatal in the past are becoming quicker
to detect and easier to treat. Hence insurance companies have found
themselves paying out earlier on claims and on illnesses which are not
necessarily debilitating - which was the original purpose of critical
illness insurance.
To give you a better idea of the sort of illnesses we're talking about,
here's a typical list:
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Aorta Graft surgery
- Bacterial Meningitis
- Blindness
- Brain Tumour
- Cancer
- CJD
- Coma
- Coronary Artery by-pass surgery
- Coronary Artery Angioplasty
- Deafness
- Heart attack
- Heart Valve replacement/repair
- HIV/AIDS resulting from blood transfusion
- Inability to perform your duties of occupation
- Kidney failure
- Leukaemia
- Loss of limbs
- Loss of speech
- Major organ transplant
- Motor Neuron diseases
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Occupational HIV/AIDS
- Paralysis
- Paraplegia
- Parkinson's disease
- Stroke
- Third Degree burns
- Any illness that results in Total and Permanent disability
Insurance companies have at last realised that they're not going to get
anywhere marketing policies that people can't or won't afford, and where
the companies can't afford to lower prices. So it now looks as if
insurers such as Scottish Widows are considering a break through -
splitting the cover so that the prospective policyholder can specify
which illnesses he or she wants to insure against. It's a form a "menu
pricing" - cover for each illness would have a price and you simply
select which illnesses you want to insure against.
Whether such insurance proves popular will very much depend on the cost.
For example, if cancer accounts for around 60% of current claims, you'd
expect the premium for covering cancer alone to be about 40% cheaper
than a full strength critical illness policy. We'll have to wait and see.
If you're interested to find out how much a standard critical illness
policy would cost you, you'll find it cheapest on the Internet. The best
sites to look out for are the independent discounting brokers who deal
with all the big insurance providers. These brokers can search the whole
market for you, come up with the cheapest insurer, and discount their
price. Try to use a broker who'll also give you personal advice on the
phone as some policies do vary in the scope of their cover.
Michael writes for Scrouge Life Insurance who offer life insurance quotes and
critical illness insurance. Click here for more life insurance
topics.
