Critical Illness Cover (CIC)
When Critical Illnesses happen, life doesn’t come to a stop. Critical Illness Cover or ‘CIC’ as it is more commonly known is usually an add on to life insurance, but equally a policy can be taken out separately if you wish.
It can help you and your family take the time to focus on what is really important if you have been diagnosed with a specified illness. The demands of daily life still go on, the reassurance of having cover in place means that you are able to spend the time recuperating, not spending time on money worries or wondering how you will get by if you don’t snap back in to working life.
It won’t happen to me
During the term, most people will cover themselves in the event of death, but they don’t cover themselves in the event of survival. In the UK alone, 1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with Cancer in their lifetime* and only around 22% think they can maintain their current lifestyle should they suffer a critical illness.
Cancer is the top cause for CIC claims and it unfortunately can happen to anyone, at anytime. It’s just one example of the illnesses that can be covered, but the other top 2 are both heart-related conditions. The reality is that it could happen to anyone- and when they least expect it.
Critical Illness Cover is not usually a policy that people see as necessary, but we think it’s one of the most important things you can do to cover yourself and those that you care about.
A total of £1,094,919,735 was paid out in 2021 across individual critical illness, life insurance and income protection policies with 98.1% of all claims received being settled.
The scale of the payout, equivalent to around £3m in payments made to customers every day, highlights the crucial support that protection insurance provides for tens of thousands of UK households. **
*taken from https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/risk/lifetime-risk
** taken from https://www.aviva.com/newsroom/news-releases/2022/05/over-1-bn-in-individual-protection-claims-helped-more-than-53700-customers-and-families-in-2021/ 23/05/2022
