Will your health always be good?

Good health is something that many people are lucky enough to take for granted but it is not the case for everyone. In fact, even those people who are in good health now may not be in the future. Getting a serious illness can have a huge impact on people's lives but is something that many people loath to think about.

And who can blame them? After all, no one wants to contemplate contracting a serious illness but unfortunately it is a fact that 1 in 3 people will get cancer at some point during their lives¹. It is also a fact that someone suffers a heart attack every 2 minutes² and over 250,000 people are living with disabilities resulting from a stroke³.

These are quite disturbing figures but fortunately, medical advances mean that the chances of surviving a serious illness is greatly improved. Of course, this can create a new set of complications and there are lots of different scenarios which could arise as a result. For example:-

• You may have to stop working;
• Perhaps have to have someone looking after you at home;
• There may be specialist medical treatment required;
• You may need to make adjustments to your home such as a stair lift or ramp.

Of course just thinking about these 4 scenarios raises further questions such as whether your family would be willing to help or whether there would be a waiting time for treatment on the NHS. And perhaps the underlying question to all these situations would be how would you cope financially?

So what's the solution?

One answer to this could be to take out a Critical Illness policy. This type of cover pays out a lump sum of money to assist you financially in the case of something serious happening to your health. The money could be used how ever you want so you could, for example, pay off your mortgage to make your monthly finances easier. You could use the money to pay for medical treatment privately or perhaps just tie you over whilst you recover and can return to work. The money would be yours to do with whatever you like and is also tax free.

The premiums for Critical Illness policies are usually paid monthly and the price is based on a number of factors such as your age, sex, occupation, current health, family medical history and whether or not you smoke. The policies themselves cover a wide variety of illnesses on top of the 3 mentioned earlier and these days, many critical illness providers also include other benefits such as counselling, help getting back to work, or free critical illness cover for your children.

There is a wide variety of options available for those considering this type of cover and it can be quite confusing; so much so that you may be forgiven for being tempted just to go with the first quote you come across or simply the cheapest price. However, it is important when thinking about this type of cover to look closely at what the policy includes and how it works so that it is right for both you and your family. Getting professional advice is often the best way to ensure that you are getting the right policy at the right price as long as your broker offers a service covering the whole market.

For more information on Critical Illness cover, the Financial Services Authority has produced some helpful information for consumers which is available on the web at http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/news/critical_illness_cover.html

1 - Source: Office of National Statistics
2 - Source: British Heart Foundation
3 - Source: The Stroke Association