The price of Critical Illness Insurance and levels of cover can vary dramatically between insurers so it's vital to carefully compare the policies.

But Critical Illness Insurance can be complicated so you'll need advice in order to ensure a wise choice.

So Brokers Online have chosen LifeSearch to provide a price and policy comparison service that's second to none.

LifeSearch are current holders of the Best Protection Advisers of the year as voted at the Money Marketing Financial Service Awards. In fact it's the fourth time they've won this award in the last five years!

So you can rely on LifeSearch to do all the leg work on your behalf.

They'll automatically search the entire market to find you the best policies. They'll then phone you to present and compare your options.

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Articles About Critical Illness Insurance

Our published life insurance articles.
Our published Critical Illness Insurance articles. 

• The main causes of death are circulatory diseases, which include coronary heart disease and strokes (39%), cancers (26%) and respiratory diseases (13%),
• 1 in 3 people develop cancer at some point in their lifetime, 1 in 4 die from cancer
• Cigarette smoking has been identified as the single most significant cause of preventable disease and premature death in the UK - a third of all cancer deaths are directly linked to smoking
• 1 in 5 male deaths occur between the ages of 20 and 65
• There are an estimated 2.68 million people living with Coronary Heart Disease in the UK
• Anywhere between 15% and 60% of a person's estate is needed to meet mortgage payments, funeral costs, debts, valuation fees, medical expenses, income and estate taxes.

More Information

Read the Answers to the Questions we frequently get asked

• Life Insurance FAQ's
• Mortgage Life Insurance FAQ's
• Critical Illness Insurance FAQ's
• Family Income Benefit FAQ's

Have you asked for a quote which combines Life and Critical Illness Insurance.

Critical Illness Insurance, Critical Illness
Cover - Request a quote for a great deal through Brokers Online.

Has the quote come out as more than you can afford? Your Adviser can tailor a policy to your budget.

If you’ve asked for a quote combining Critical Illness with Level Term Life Insurance and the quote is more than you can afford, then simply tell your Adviser how much you can afford and, whilst you’re on the phone to LifeSearch, they’ll tell you how much cover they can get for you.

They can do this by reducing either part of the cover to match your budget (this normally means reducing the critical illness sum insured as this is by far the most costly part). Alternatively, just change the total sum insured. Your Adviser will process as many alternatives as needed to find you right policy.

Articles About Life Insurance

We've made a collection of articles published about Life Insurance. Interested?

• 100,000 men under age 65 will die this year but around five times as many will suffer a critical illness
  
• Every 40 seconds a serious illness is diagnosed
  
• You are 15 times more likely to be off work for 6 months because of an accident or serious illness than you are to die before retirement
  
• Around 40,000 homes are sold each year to pay for long term care
  
• 1 in 4 males and 1 in 5 females will be diagnosed with a serious illness before retirement

Tip 1

You could effectively get Life Cover included within your Critical Illness Policy at no extra cost!

You may well be able to buy a combined Life and Critical Illness policy cheaper than a policy for Critical Illness alone. In effect this means that you are getting the extra life cover for nothing! After you have been contacted with a critical illness insurance quote, ask for a new quote combining the two and see if you get a cheaper quote. It’s worth trying!

Tip 2

Think about buying two single Critical Illness Insurance policies rather than a joint policy.
A Joint Critical Illness policy pays out if one of the policyholders contracts a critical illness. The policy then automatically terminates. This leaves the second person uninsured and probably at an older age. Older people can struggle to get critical illness cover, so consider taking out separate policies now rather than a joint policy. It will work out a little dearer but you get double the cover and double the peace of mind.

Tip 3

Now could be a good time to include Life Insurance within your new Critical Illness policy.

There are three excellent reasons why it could make sense.

• If you are going to need Life Insurance in the future, then consider including Life Insurance now within your Critical Illness policy. It will work out significantly cheaper than buying two separate policies.
• You should be able to buy a combined Life and Critical Illness policy with a guaranteed fixed premium. This is a big advantage as many life insurance companies will not offer a guaranteed premium if you buy Critical Illness alone.
• If you contracted a critical illness and died within 28 days of being diagnosed, then a critical illness policy by itself, would not pay out (you have to survive 28 days to qualify for a critical illness pay out). However, if you had a combined Life and Critical Illness policy this would not matter as you'd be paid under the life cover provisions.

Tip 4

A Guaranteed Critical Illness Policy could eventually work out cheaper than a Reviewable Policy.

Reviewable critical illness policies have the lowest premiums on day one but Guaranteed policies work out much cheaper over the medium/long term. This is because as the years go by, Reviewable premiums increase whereas Guaranteed policies have their prices fixed - they're guaranteed forever (there's more information about this on our FAQ Menu).

Tip 5

Is it Critical or Terminal Illness Cover you want?

People frequently confuse Terminal Illness cover with UK Critical Illness Cover - but there's a world of difference between the two. Make sure you appreciate the difference.
A terminal Illness is any illness from which you are expected to die within 12 months from diagnosis (as certified by a doctor). You cannot buy a stand-alone Terminal Illness Policy. Terminal illness cover is always included free within Critical Illness policies and most good life policies automatically include Terminal Illness cover at no extra cost.

In comparison with Terminal Illness Cover, a Critical Illness policy pays out if you are diagnosed with a much wider range qualifying chronic illness and, with many of these illnesses, you could survive for a very long time. For example: certain cancers, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, loss of speech/sight/hearing, onset of Parkinsons or Alzheimers disease before the age of 65, coma, various tumours, stroke, third degree burns etc. Conditions do vary between insurance companies. Critical Illness cover always costs you extra.

Tip 6

Thinking of using a Critical Illness policy to protect your mortgage? Then consider increasing the cover.

You may decide that you want to use Critical Illness insurance to pay off your repayment mortgage. It’s an excellent idea because if you become critically ill, you may well be faced with medical bills and it is likely that you will need to spend money on your house to make it easier to live in (stair lift, wider doors, ramps, downstairs toilet etc). You might even want your insurance to provide an extra contingency sum to help out with these extra costs or to help offset an inevitable loss of income. (Remember, payouts from insurance policies are not subject to income tax.)

If you want Critical Illness cover to do more than pay-off your repayment mortgage, then discuss this with the Adviser when they call. You could buy separate Mortgage Life Insurance and Critical Illness policies to achieve this, but the cheapest way of getting this cover would be to buy a special combined policy. LifeSearch's Adviser will help you.

Tip 7

Important - Please be aware

If you obtain a quote for a policy to replace an existing critical illness policy, NEVER cancel your old policy until the insurance company has confirmed in writing that cover has commenced on your new policy.

Tip 8

Has the Critical Illness quote worked out more than you can afford? Ask for a quote tailored to your budget.

If the first quote is over your budget tell your Adviser how much you can afford and, whilst you’re on the phone, they'll will tell you how much cover tyou can have.
They can do this by reducing either part of the cover to match your budget. Normally this will involve reducing the critical illness sum insured as it costs more than pure life insurance. Alternatively, you could choose to change the total sum insured. To make sure you get the right insurance deal for your needs, your Adviser will be able to process as many alternatives as required.

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Disclosure Document

Critical Illness Insurance, Critical Illness Cover and Critical Life
Insurance all from Brokers Online