If you are fortunate enough, you may never have to think about or consider serious illness coverage. You may never have even heard of the options of serious or critical illness coverage either. Or cases of a significant health emergency, such as a heart attack, cancer, or even a stroke. Critical illness insurance could be the main thing protecting you from a severe financial problem. Most people think that standard health insurance covers these things. However, the vast costs of treating a life-threatening illness are generally not included in any standard plan. Read on to find out more about serious and critical illness insurance and whether it is something you should consider for you and your family.
What is Vitality’s Serious Illness Cover
Vitality’s Serious Illness Cover takes a unique approach to its cover policies based on the severity of the injury, which means they payout depending on the impact of the illness or injury. This concept differs from more conventional approaches which have a set payout fee depending on the illness or injury. However, this does vary on specific procedures. It is advisable to speak to an expert before making a final decision. Serious Illness Cover may not pay out the full amount, whereas a critical illness policy would.
This policy may not be the ideal solution for all user’s needs, so if you are considering protection to pay off your mortgage after an illness. Then the Booster option they also offer may deliver the perfect mortgage protection solution.
The Booster option can be added to both Vitality’s Primary Serious Illness Cover or Comprehensive Serious Illness Cover. This plan provides the best of both worlds. The policy pays 100% on the most common causes for a claim. They also protect you against several different early-stage illnesses. This plan still has a high impact on your lifestyle.
Why It May Be Important
Some of the main benefits of critical illness coverage are that the money can be used for various things, such as:
- Paying for critical medical services that might not be available otherwise.
- Paying for treatment that is not covered by a traditional policy.
- Paying for daily living expenses. Enabling the critically ill to focus their time and energy on getting better rather than working to pay their bills.
- Transport costs, such as getting to and from various treatment centres. Also converting vehicles so that they can carry scooters or wheelchairs and installing stairlifts in homes. These options can be particularly useful for patients who can no longer use a conventional staircase.
- A family holiday, for terminally ill patients, who need a restful place to recuperate and be with friends and family.
Serious Illness Cover Booster and Critical Illness Cover
Serious illness cover works slightly differently from a typical critical illness cover. Serious illness cover pays out on less severe conditions as well as some of the more critical ones. Vitality gives you a percentage of your protection, and this depends on the severity of your condition. Meaning if caught early you can use a portion earlier on and you will also receive the rest should you need to claim in the future.
Serious Illness Cover Booster covers a comprehensive 178 conditions under the “Comprehensive Serious Illness Cover” and also 145 conditions on the “Primary Cover”. Including more types of cancers than any other insurer.
They also use a severity-based payments system as some conditions are less debilitating than others conditions. An example of this is if you lost your vision in one eye, you might also need to take time off work. In this case, your payouts would start from 15% of your total coverage amount.
Serious Illness Cover Booster also gives 100% payouts for the conditions covered in the typical critical illness policies. This option gives you the certainty that you will be able to pay off your mortgage in full should the worst case happen. The Booster also provides a 100% payout for all heart attacks, strokes, and types of cancers as defined by the ABI.
Boosted payouts can give up to 200% for conditions that come with a long-term physical impact. If you were to develop one of the conditions they have identified as having the most severe long-term tangible implications. They will also boost the payment, which will depend on your age when you make a claim.
There are also additional boosts to your payout if, for instance, you have dependent children on your plan. If you were to develop one of the conditions identified as having the most severe long-term physical impact and have children named on your policy, then they will give an extra 10% boost per child. They are making a stressful time that little bit easier.
Conclusion
Since 1960, one in two people is likely to be diagnosed with some form of cancer. Also, every seven minutes, someone will have a heart attack and every 12 minutes a stroke. Illness or accidents could strike at any time. So to make sure you have your family’s best interests at heart, it is worth researching the available options. These options could pay your mortgage or even a holiday should an unfortunate event occur. So make sure you consider all your options and choose the one that is right for you.
DISCLAIMER: These articles are for information only and should not be construed as advice. You should always seek advice prior to taking any action.
