Peace of mind
Critical Illness Insurance
A lot of us do not consider the financial implications of being diagnosed with a serious illness. Having a critical illness could drastically change your life. We like to think it is never going to happen to us, but in the face of uncertainty, the best peace of mind is to be prepared for the worst. A critical illness pay out can provide financial assistance to help avoid financial hardship at a difficult time. Some popular uses for this cash lump sum are:
- Prevent you from going back to work for a longer period or at least until fully recovered.
- Pay for specialised and professional home help or pay for extra childcare if you are too ill to look after dependents.
- Adapt your home to suit your illness or move to a better suited property.
- Help you purchase mobility equipment.
- Pay for a second opinion from an alternative private doctor.
- Enjoy the holiday of a lifetime with your loved ones.
Ease Financial Pressures
There’s no doubt that in the event of a health emergency, having money at your disposal eases any financial pressure and makes things easier so you can focus on what’s important: you and your health.
Critical illness insurance provides you with a tax-free lump sum on diagnosis of a qualifying critical illness. These types of illnesses are usually long term and include very serious conditions such as
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Loss of arms and legs
- Cancer
- Multiple sclerosis
- Parkinson’s disease
Though some critical illnesses are common, medical advances have enabled those diagnosed with a serious illness to live longer than ever before. Survival rates have increased but the bills associated with treatment can be crippling — especially with rising healthcare costs.
How do critical illness policies work?
- It pays out a lump sum to you if you are diagnosed with a qualifying critical illness.
- It also pays out a lump sum on your death, if you die before being diagnosed with a qualifying critical illness.
- You can cover both yourself and your partner with two single life policies, or one joint policy.
- You can protect your insurance policy against inflation by electing for increasing cover.
- You can have a critical illness policy on top of any existing life insurance policies you may already have in place.
The Benefits of a CIC policy
There is always a need for critical illness insurance and the younger you are when you take out the policy, the cheaper the monthly premiums will be. It will provide you with:
- Peace of mind.
- Financial assistance when you are diagnosed with a qualifying critical illness. The pay-out can be used to make any necessary amendments to your house or going for treatment privately.
- It pays out on the earlier of death or diagnosis of a qualifying critical illness.
- You can put the policy into trust, and it will pay out a specific amount to your chosen beneficiaries.
- You still receive the payment if you survive the qualifying critical illness.
Contact Abacus Wealth Management today to see if you can benefit from a life and critical illness policy We will assess your circumstances and lifestyle and give you a personal recommendation on the best suited policy
FAQ
Abacus Wealth act your financial adviser and insurance broker only and do not act as your insurance provider. We use AIG Life, so your life and critical illness policy will be held by them.
This depends on a few things. The factors below will all influence the price of your income protection policy:
- Your age
- Your health
- Your smoker status – smokers get higher rates applied automatically
- The amount you want insured.
- The term of the policy – the longer the term, the more expensive the policy.
- Whether you choose only Core Critical Illness cover or Core + Enhanced Critical Illness Cover.
We can provide you with a free quote for the price of a specific amount of cover or you can tell us your specific budget to see how much cover you would get.
In order for you to take out your income protection policy, you will need to be medically underwritten. This includes the completion of the Data Capture Form mentioned above and, depending on the answers you have provided, you may need to undergo a blood test, urine test and medical examination. Don’t worry, all costs are covered by AIG and all tests are done in local clinics.
Gibraltar law only provides that companies pay their employees 2 weeks full pay and then a further 4 weeks half pay in any 12-month period. This means that after 6 weeks, your employer does not have to pay you anything else. It is crucial that you review your employment contract so that you know exactly how much and when your sick pay entitlement ends. We would look to match this period with the deferred period on your income protection policy.
In order for you to take out your income protection policy, you will need to be medically underwritten. This includes the completion of the Data Capture Form mentioned above and, depending on the answers you have provided, you may need to undergo a blood test, urine test and medical examination. Don’t worry, all costs are covered by AIG and all tests are done in local clinics.
Yes – we can tailor your policy to suit your mortgage specifically. These types of policies are called Decreasing Term Assurance policies and are significantly less expensive than regular critical illness policies, as the amount insured reduces every year in line with your mortgage. We match the policy to the exact terms of your mortgage, including the amount outstanding, the term and the interest rate.