Tuesday, September 20, 2011

What You Should Know About Critical Illness Life Insurance

By Otha Presas


One of the biggest challenges that can strike a family is sickness. Critical illness can cause serious impact on every member of the household. An ill patient and his loved ones are likely to face physical, mental and emotional stress among other things.

These, however, can be aggravated further if the affected family does not have sufficient financial resources to help them with any expense during treatment and recovery of the patient and their other needs. This is why it pays to prepare for the worst. This will not only benefit the sick family member but it will also help his loved ones go through the ordeals. And what can be a better way to do this than buying a Critical Illness Life Insurance. This is an insurance product where the policyholder is paid a lump-sum benefit when he is diagnosed to have any of the critical illnesses listed on the policy and you don't get this with Medicare supplements.

This can be purchased as a stand-alone policy or as a rider in your life insurance. Whichever option you choose to go for, you should know that with this purchase you are actually giving yourself and those around you one of the best means to deal with a serious illness such as heart attack, cancer, kidney failure and multiple sclerosis.

The amount that the Critical Illness Life Insurance will pay can be used for whatever expenses deemed necessary by the family, whether it is an expense not related to the illness. This can be very ideal for the income earners of a family whose sickness can imply long period of no cash flow that should otherwise be used to pay off bills and other household expenses.

Quite commonly, insurance companies give the payout to those diagnosed with critical illness but are able to survive within 28 days. But with the application of the term assurance on the policy, insurance companies give the policyholders an option that pays the lump-sum amount when the insured died because of the critical illness.

In the UK, there is a tax rule imposed on qualifying policies issued before March 14, 1984. This is the Life Assurance Premium Relief which states that there is no relief for premiums in excess of 1500 pounds or 1/6th of the total income whichever is greater. To be granted with the tax relief the policy should agree to pay a capital sum on death; it should also be on the life of the policyholder or the spouse by whom premiums must be made; and that the couple are residents of UK at the time the payment is made. The insured will be entitled for a payment amounting to 50 percent of the basic rate of tax.




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