Critical Illness Insurance
Critical cover for the unexpected.
Find comfort knowing you're financially taken care of when the unexpected happens
While Life Cover pays a lump sum upon death, Critical Illness Cover will pay out upon the diagnosis of a serious illness or injury. It is usually recommended you have a combination of both Life and Trauma, so you aren’t left in a situation where you have been diagnosed with a serious illness and are still having to work. Click on the "Start Online Advice" button to complete our quick and easy form or contact one of our expert Financial Advisers if you'd like to know more.
FAQ
How do I know if I need Critical Illness Cover?
Critical Illness Insurance is designed to complement your other insurance products, such as Life Cover, Income Protection and your private Medical Insurance. So when you are looking at whether you need Critical Illness Insurance you should take into consideration:
- Your Income Protection Insurance Policy.
- How much income your family will need to survive if you can’t work for a while, or forever.
- How much income your family will need, not to just survive, but thrive, if you are unable to work.
- How much help or support would be available to you and your family if you were diagnosed with an illness and unable to work. For example, would you need to hire someone to look after the kids if your partner had to spend their time taking you to medical appointments?
- How much savings/emergency funds/assets you could sell to fund your lifestyle do you have available to you?
- What government benefits are available to you and would they meet your financial needs? Bear in mind that the current ‘supported living’ benefit in New Zealand for a person in a de facto relationship without children is approximately $218.86 weekly.
If this all seems pretty overwhelming, and still doesn’t really answer your question, try our Income Protection Fact Find or email us at team@clickcover.co.nz – we’re here to help.
How do I get the right Critical Illness policy for me?
Critical Illness Insurance is a very complicated product and requires a little more work from us to make sure you’re getting the right policy for you. But don’t worry – you can still get this advice for FREE from us here at ClickCover – it’s all part of the service.
Complete a Critical Insurance Fact Find which will give us a basic understanding of your situation, what insurance you already have in place, and what your Critical Illness Insurance needs may be.
A Registered Financial Advisor will then contact you to discuss your Fact Find Summary and provide a recommendation. You decide on the policy that best suits you. We'll provide you with a Statement of Advice, and help you through the Application Process.
Then let us handle the rest!
Why is Critical Illness Cover more expensive than Life Cover?
The reason for this is that there are more Critical Illness claims made than there are Life Insurance claims.
This means the insurer is more likely to have to pay out on your Critical Illness Policy than they would your Life Insurance policy, making it a greater risk for insurers.
So although it is more expensive, you are statistically more likely to make a claim, and therefore receive a payout, with a Critical Illness Policy.
How can I save money on my Critical Illness Cover?
The best way to save money on your Critical Illness Insurance is to insure a lesser sum. How much would you and your family really need if you or your partner were to be diagnosed with a serious illness?
Some cover is better than nothing at the end of the day.
There are also Critical Illness products out there that will cover you only if you are diagnosed with cancer, for example.This may be a more suitable option rather than a more comprehensive policy.
Doesn't Life Cover also "pay out" if I am diagnosed with a serious illness?
Most Life Insurance policies have a clause that they will pay out your full Life Insurance amount, in one lump sum payment, upon being given a terminal diagnosis.
For your Life Insurance to pay out before death, you have to be given less than 12 months to live. For example, if you get diagnosed with cancer, even if you are given a terminal diagnosis (i.e. unrecoverable) you won’t receive a pay out on your Life Insurance Policy until you are given less than 12 months to live. Whereas, if you have Critical illness Insurance, in most cases your policy would be able to be paid out upon your initial diagnosis.
If you were instead diagnosed with cancer, or you had a stroke or a heart attack, but you would recover eventually (not die), your Critical illness Insurance would again pay out upon your diagnosis. In this case you would receive nothing from your Life Insurance Policy.
Where you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, you are given less than 12 months to live, and you had Life and Critical Illness Insurance, you would be able to make claims on both of them and receive both lump sum payments. (If you were working and also had Income Protection Insurance, you would be able to make a claim under this policy as well!).
Because Life and Critical Illness Insurance go hand-in-hand, and give you a broad range of cover as described above, we recommend that you have some form of both products to ensure you get the best protection.