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Home / - Children's Critical Illness Cover
Children’s Benefit
Most critical illness plans include a provision to pay out some benefits if the life assured’s natural, legally adopted (and sometimes step) children are diagnosed with a critical illness.
The child has to be diagnosed with one of the listed conditions and survive the survival period stated by the life office.
The detailed policy wording will confirm that a small number of the critical illnesses will not apply to children (e.g. Parkinson’s Disease). In addition conditions that are caused by a familial or congenital defect, or which were present before the child became covered by the plan are excluded.
Furthermore a child is only entitled to one pay out per plan, however two single life policies (one on each parent), would produce two pay outs.
A number of life offices limit the number of payments in respect of children that can be paid under the plan. The table below illustrates a snap shot of the life offices’ approach to children’s cover (August 2005).
NEWS
Sexuality irrelevant to life insurance
31 July 2007 11:35:37
Applications for life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection insurance no longer include a question of the applicants' sexuality, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said.
An ABI spokesman admitted that life insurance applications might previously have included the so-called 'gay question', whereby an applicant might have been unfairly treated based on potentially ignorant conceptions of their sexuality.
However, he cited a landmark move for the insurance industry in October 2005, in which the ABI produced a new Statement of Best Practice on HIV and Insurance.
"It's possible that there has been a perception that applications were not treated in the same way in the past, but now no longer do people have to disclose…what their sexuality is," he said.
"There is government legislation now which means that you don't have to disclose whether you're in a civil partnership, so there can be no way that the insurance company knows what your sexuality is."
The 2005 policy change also led to the rise of gay life insurance products, such as Pink Insurance and Gay Finance.
'Applications for life insurance by non-smokers may rise'
15 April 2008 11:34:30
Insurers may see a rise in life insurance applications from non-smokers over the next 12 months, a spokesperson for health charity ASH has said.
Research manager Amanda Sandford said that while it is unlikely there will be an "influx" of people officially becoming non-smokers in July - the one-year anniversary of the smoking ban - there was certainly a rise in the number of smokers quitting the habit last summer.
Most insurers currently require someone to have given up for 12 months before they can apply for life insurance cover as a non-smoker.
"I think it is fair to say that there was a rise in the number of people quitting over the summer of last year, and a proportion of those will have managed to give up for good," she said.
Norwich Union recently advised that smokers planning to quit could see their monthly life insurance premiums cut by up to almost half by applying for cover as non-smokers.
For some, this could mean cover for little more than the cost of a packet of 20 cigarettes.
According to recent research from Benenden Healthcare, around 14 per cent of smokers nationwide - 1.64 million - have given up smoking since July 2007.
Direct Life and Pensions Services Ltd are one of the UK's leading providers of life insurance, term life assurance, mortgage protection, critical illness and life insurance advice online
Protect your future with life insurance
04 July 2007 15:16:55
While it might seem morbid to consider the effect of tragedy on your family, it makes a great deal of financial sense to think about life insurance.
According to Eugene C Gordon, CEO of US life cover provider LifeQuote, protecting your family's future could be one of the most important decisions you ever make.
Speaking at the launch of Life Insurance Awareness Month in Miami, Florida yesterday, Mr Gordon said:
"Death is a topic of conversation most families avoid but having life insurance (term life insurance) coverage could someday prevent a financial tragedy."
Yet according to November 2006 research by UK insurer Bright Grey, only 53 per cent of British adults have any form of life insurance cover.
With life insurance premiums falling steadily over the past few years, as medical advancements increase life expectancy, there's only one road to take when thinking about your family's future and that's ensuring that in the event of your death, they'll be able to survive financially.
Of course, your own lifestyle is likely to affect the cost of your insurance premium, so getting into shape can help your wallet as well as your health.
Jonathan French of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) recently explained the benefits of pursuing a healthy lifestyle, confirming that "lifestyle factors in general play a part in the assessment that insurance companies do on people when they apply for life or protection insurance".
Many insurers assess the potential risks associated with a policyholder by measuring their Body Mass Index - Mr French confirms that "factors like obesity will be taken into account".
Quitting smoking in the wake of the new ban could also save you money, as well as improving your life expectancy.
However, many insurers will only lower premiums if the policyholder has steered clear of the evil weed for a protracted period, likely to be at least six months.
But if you're serious about giving up cigarettes, you're likely to notice the benefit in both your fitness and your bank account.
A recent survey from advice website find.co.uk revealed that kicking the habit could save you around £64 per year in life insurance costs.
While a 35-year-old male smoker would pay around £13.50 per month for a 20-year level term policy with an assured sum of £100,000, a non-smoker would pay £8 every month - this adds up to a saving of almost £1,300 over the 20-year term.
Mr French confirmed that insurers are unlikely to turn away applicants for life cover if they are obese or smoke, but added that making lifestyle changes would certainly prove beneficial.
"One important thing that people should remember is," he said, "if, when they applied for their insurance policy, there were lifestyle factors which they had declared, like obesity, and…those individuals make lifestyle changes which reduces obesity, for example, then if they let their insurance company know that then there is likely to be a reassessment of premiums, which doesn't happen the other way round."
"The policies are underwritten at the point of application not at the point of claim."
31 July 2007 11:35:37
Applications for life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection insurance no longer include a question of the applicants' sexuality, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said.
An ABI spokesman admitted that life insurance applications might previously have included the so-called 'gay question', whereby an applicant might have been unfairly treated based on potentially ignorant conceptions of their sexuality.
However, he cited a landmark move for the insurance industry in October 2005, in which the ABI produced a new Statement of Best Practice on HIV and Insurance.
"It's possible that there has been a perception that applications were not treated in the same way in the past, but now no longer do people have to disclose…what their sexuality is," he said.
"There is government legislation now which means that you don't have to disclose whether you're in a civil partnership, so there can be no way that the insurance company knows what your sexuality is."
The 2005 policy change also led to the rise of gay life insurance products, such as Pink Insurance and Gay Finance.
15 April 2008 11:34:30
Insurers may see a rise in life insurance applications from non-smokers over the next 12 months, a spokesperson for health charity ASH has said.
Research manager Amanda Sandford said that while it is unlikely there will be an "influx" of people officially becoming non-smokers in July - the one-year anniversary of the smoking ban - there was certainly a rise in the number of smokers quitting the habit last summer.
Most insurers currently require someone to have given up for 12 months before they can apply for life insurance cover as a non-smoker.
"I think it is fair to say that there was a rise in the number of people quitting over the summer of last year, and a proportion of those will have managed to give up for good," she said.
Norwich Union recently advised that smokers planning to quit could see their monthly life insurance premiums cut by up to almost half by applying for cover as non-smokers.
For some, this could mean cover for little more than the cost of a packet of 20 cigarettes.
According to recent research from Benenden Healthcare, around 14 per cent of smokers nationwide - 1.64 million - have given up smoking since July 2007.
Direct Life and Pensions Services Ltd are one of the UK's leading providers of life insurance, term life assurance, mortgage protection, critical illness and life insurance advice online
04 July 2007 15:16:55
While it might seem morbid to consider the effect of tragedy on your family, it makes a great deal of financial sense to think about life insurance.
According to Eugene C Gordon, CEO of US life cover provider LifeQuote, protecting your family's future could be one of the most important decisions you ever make.
Speaking at the launch of Life Insurance Awareness Month in Miami, Florida yesterday, Mr Gordon said:
"Death is a topic of conversation most families avoid but having life insurance (term life insurance) coverage could someday prevent a financial tragedy."
Yet according to November 2006 research by UK insurer Bright Grey, only 53 per cent of British adults have any form of life insurance cover.
With life insurance premiums falling steadily over the past few years, as medical advancements increase life expectancy, there's only one road to take when thinking about your family's future and that's ensuring that in the event of your death, they'll be able to survive financially.
Of course, your own lifestyle is likely to affect the cost of your insurance premium, so getting into shape can help your wallet as well as your health.
Jonathan French of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) recently explained the benefits of pursuing a healthy lifestyle, confirming that "lifestyle factors in general play a part in the assessment that insurance companies do on people when they apply for life or protection insurance".
Many insurers assess the potential risks associated with a policyholder by measuring their Body Mass Index - Mr French confirms that "factors like obesity will be taken into account".
Quitting smoking in the wake of the new ban could also save you money, as well as improving your life expectancy.
However, many insurers will only lower premiums if the policyholder has steered clear of the evil weed for a protracted period, likely to be at least six months.
But if you're serious about giving up cigarettes, you're likely to notice the benefit in both your fitness and your bank account.
A recent survey from advice website find.co.uk revealed that kicking the habit could save you around £64 per year in life insurance costs.
While a 35-year-old male smoker would pay around £13.50 per month for a 20-year level term policy with an assured sum of £100,000, a non-smoker would pay £8 every month - this adds up to a saving of almost £1,300 over the 20-year term.
Mr French confirmed that insurers are unlikely to turn away applicants for life cover if they are obese or smoke, but added that making lifestyle changes would certainly prove beneficial.
"One important thing that people should remember is," he said, "if, when they applied for their insurance policy, there were lifestyle factors which they had declared, like obesity, and…those individuals make lifestyle changes which reduces obesity, for example, then if they let their insurance company know that then there is likely to be a reassessment of premiums, which doesn't happen the other way round."
"The policies are underwritten at the point of application not at the point of claim."