Critical illness cover.

We never think a critical illness is going to happen to us, especially when we feel healthy, but it can and does. What if it did happen to you? Imagine if you were critically ill and unable to work for a long time…… could you manage financially?

Our critical illness product is a term assurance policy with critical illness cover included. This means that the policy could provide a cash sum to help you and your family financially if you were to die, or be diagnosed with  one of the specified critical illnesses we cover during its term.

Why do you need critical illness cover?

• Critical illnesses are more common than people tend to believe and can affect anyone at any time. A number of critical illnesses are being diagnosed at a younger age. In fact in 2009 the average age of our critical illness claimants was just 44 years old.
• Approximately 89,000 people under the age of 65 will have a heart attack in the UK this year. Up to half of these people won’t return to work.¹
• In 2009 we paid 2,149 claims. The average pay out was £70,331 and the largest was £750,000.
• The most common cause of cancer for men aged between 20-39 is testicular.²
• Around 125 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every day in the UK.³

What are the key features of our critical illness cover?

• We provide cover for 39 critical illnesses.
• Critical illness cover for your children is included at no extra charge. Conditions apply. 
• We’ll pay out an additional payment in the event of a mastectomy for ductal carcinoma in situ claim. The original sum assured and premiums are not affected. Conditions apply.
• We won’t pay out a claim in the event you are diagnosed with an illness that is not covered, and due to medical advances not all forms of cancer are covered.
• For further details about this cover please see the Key Features Document.

So why choose us?

• We are the UK's number 1 critical illness cover provider, based on new individual critical illness sales in 2009. ⁴

^{1 Source: British Heart Foundation 2005
2 Source: Cancer Research UK August 2010
3 Source: Cancer Research UK March 2010
4 Source: Swiss Re Term & Health Watch Report 2010}