Critical illness cover compared with serious illness cover

During a period of illness, one of the major concerns of those affected is

often financial stability at a particularly unstable time.

Detailed below are statistics released from some of the major

insurance providers detailing what customers are claiming for and more crucially when they are

making payouts.

Aviva

During the first half of 2009 Aviva paid out over £140 million in claims made on critical and terminal illness

insurance policies.

Critical illness claims totaling almost £60million were paid out to 744

policy holders while a further £82 million was paid out to families for policy holders who had died or who had been diagnosed with a terminal

illness.

The average critical illness payout was £80,429 and 89% of claims were

paid.

One of the major issues facing those making a claim on critical illness insurance is that of non-

disclosure.

In 2009 only 2% of claims to Aviva were rejected on the grounds of non-disclosure whereas 9% were rejected on the grounds that the condition was not covered in the

policy.

Cancer is still the most common cause of critical illness, with 64% of claims made being cancer related.

Bright grey

Recent figures suggest that in 2009 Bright grey paid out £11 million in

claims made on critical illness insurance polices.

The average critical illness payout was £78,000 and of all the claims

made 93% were upheld.

Only 2% of claims were declined on the basis of non-disclosure and of all

the claims made, almost 47% of those were made by those in the

age group 40 and under.

As with Aviva, 75% of these claims were cancer related, while heart

attacks only make up 11%.

Bupa

In 2009, figures suggest that the average claim payout was £98,000.

Of these claims 58% were made against cancer while heart attack was 11% and strokes made up 6%

Almost 86% of claims were paid out, and of those claims less than 2%

were declined due to non-disclosure.

Of those made, males were more likely to make a claim for a cancer related illness at 74% and females

had a higher rate of claims for heart attacks at 18%.

Interestingly only !% of claims made by males were for heart attacks.

Liverpool Victoria

In 2008 Liverpool Victoria paid out almost £8.

5 million in claims, with 87% of all claims received being paid.

Keeping in-line with the other major insurance providers, less that 1% of claims made were declined due to

non-disclosure.

Any others that were not upheld, which reaches almost 13% was due

to the illness not meeting stated requirements.

For both male and female, of all the claims made, 57% were related to

cancer, 15% were due to heart attacks and 5% were due to strokes.

Statistics also show that significant payouts were also made for additional illnesses including

multiple sclerosis.

PruProtect

Pru have recently released details stating that 1 in 4 people are more

likely to receive a payout with PruProtect than with other leading

insurance providers.

PruProtect offer serious illness cover rather than critical illness

cover and claim that this is more likely to pay out than the traditional

policy.

Prus serious illness covers up to 154 illness’s compared to the UK

average of 27 illnesses and as the payouts are based on severity the

policy holder is more likely to receive a payout.

As detailed above one of the major problems policy holders are having

when making a claim is that the condition is not covered within the

policy criteria.

Pruprotect, on the other hand, base conditions on the severity of the

illness, applicants are therefore far more likely to receive a payout.

Claims on a serious illness policy can also be made up to 3 times

where as other providers will only pay out once.

Figures also show that customers are 24% more likely to receive cover

with PruProtect than with other major insurance providers.

When deciding on an insurance provider, customers should

therefore carefully consider how much cover they require.

Critical illness cover compared with serious illness cover