The critical illnesses that we cover
Safeguarding you and your loved ones. What our cover provides
If you have critical illness cover and find yourself being diagnosed with a condition that we cover, it offers you and your family financial protection. In the event of a valid claim, the pay out could help with everyday living costs like childcare, household bills or to help maintain your standard of living while you recover.
It's designed to pay out if you were diagnosed with or undergo a medical procedure for one of the conditions that we cover, during the length of your policy and you survive for 14 days from diagnosis. It can be added for an extra cost when taking out Life Insurance or Decreasing Life Insurance.
What are the conditions that we cover?
We cover an extensive range of critical illnesses, which are detailed below.
These headings typically use medical terms to describe the critical illness, but in some cases the cover may be limited. For example, some types of cancer are not included and to make a claim for some illnesses, you need to have permanent symptoms.
For full definitions and when you can claim for these conditions, please refer to our Guide to Critical Illness Cover and Policy Terms and Conditions.
If you already have Critical Illness Cover with us, please refer to your original policy documents for full terms and conditions and definitions available to you. The critical illnesses you're already covered for may be different from those listed below.
| Critical Illness | Definition |
| Aorta graft surgery | requiring surgical replacement |
| Aplastic anaemia | with permanent bone marrow failure |
| Bacterial meningitis | resulting in permanent symptoms |
| Benign brain tumour | resulting in either surgical removal or permanent symptoms |
| Blindness | permanent and irreversible |
| Cancer | excluding less advanced cases |
| Cardiac Arrest | with insertion of a defibrillator |
| Cardiomyopathy | of specified severity |
| Coma | with associated permanent symptoms |
| Coronary artery by-pass grafts | with surgery to divide the breast bone or thoracotomy |
| Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) | resulting in permanent symptoms |
| Deafness | permanent and irreversible |
| Dementia including Alzheimer’s disease | of specified severity |
| Encephalitis | resulting in permanent symptoms |
| Heart attack | of specified severity |
| Heart valve replacement or repair | with surgery |
| Kidney failure | requiring permanent dialysis |
| Liver failure | of advanced stage |
| Loss of hand or foot | permanent physical severance |
| Loss of speech | total permanent and irreversible |
| Major organ transplant | from another donor |
| Motor neurone disease | resulting in permanent symptoms |
| Multiple sclerosis | where there have been symptoms |
| Multiple system atrophy | resulting in permanent symptoms |
| Open heart surgery | with median sternotomy |
| Paralysis of limb | total and irreversible |
| Parkinson's disease | resulting in permanent symptoms |
| Primary pulmonary hypertension | of specified severity |
| Progressive supranuclear palsy | resulting in permanent symptoms |
| Removal of an eyeball | due to injury or disease |
| Respiratory failure | of advanced stage |
| Spinal stroke | resulting in symptoms lasting at least 24 hours |
| Stroke | resulting in symptoms lasting at least 24 hours |
| Systemic lupus erythematosus | with severe complications |
| Third degree burns | covering 20% of the surface area of the body or 20% of the face or head |
| Traumatic brain injury | resulting in permanent symptoms |
Extra protection with Critical Illness Cover
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Key information for new customers
If you are an existing customer please refer to your policy documents for details of your cover.
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Exclusions and limitations
- The illnesses covered include cancer, heart attack and stroke, but not all occurrences of these illnesses are covered. For example, a cancer needs to have spread or reached a specified severity to be covered under the policy.
- Advances in medicine and technology mean that traditional views of critical illnesses are constantly changing. For example, not all types of cancer are covered by this insurance and to make a claim for some illnesses you need to have permanent symptoms.
- Above is a list of specified critical illnesses covered by our current policies. If the person covered has a critical illness it has to be verified by a medical specialist who holds an appointment as a consultant at a hospital in the UK and whose specialism we reasonably consider is appropriate to the critical illness.
- Please remember that the heading of each critical illness is only a guide to what is covered. Further details of how we will consider your claim, including the full definitions we will use and the evidence we will need, are given in the policy terms and conditions, which will be sent to you when your policy starts.
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Why choose Critical Illness Cover?
The Critical Illness Cover payout process
If you’re protected by Critical Illness Cover and you wish to make a claim, here’s how the payout process works.
First you should contact L&G and quote your policy number and give your doctor’s contact details (and your own). We may send you a claim form to complete and return.
You can also start a claim by logging into My Account, where you can view and manage your L&G products online.
For a Critical Illness Cover claim, we will need details of the illness and diagnosis. If you’re making an Accident Hospitalisation Benefit claim, we will need details of the physical injury and hospital admission.
Your claim will then be assessed by L&G. We will inform you of the evidence we’ll need in order to process a critical illness payout. This documentation will depend on the nature of your claim; for example, Children’s Critical Illness Cover will require evidence such as a child’s birth certificate and proof that the relevant definition has been met.
If a Critical Illness claim is successful, the payout is made to you (the legal policy owner).
Once the claim is paid, the policy then ends and you would no longer have critical illlness cover in place.
You won’t be able to claim a critical illness payout in the following circumstances:
- You do not meet the definition for a critical illness as described in your policy
- You die within 14 days of the diagnosis of a defined critical illness
- You have provided false information during the application process
- If your policy has lapsed due to missed payments, you won't be covered, and your claim won't be paid.
Further details on claims can be found on How do I make a claim.
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