For many people, especially home owners, life insurance is a must to help repay a mortgage or support a family if the worst happens.
But critical illness cover – which pays out a lump sum for a series of pre-determined health issues – is equally important to protect your finances should you be unlucky enough to experience a major trauma or illness.
When
our client, a keen cyclist, suffered a very unexpected heart attack at just 53, it took less than nine weeks for his policy with Scottish Provident to pay out the full amount.
The father of two took out the policy with us in his late 30s at the same time as life cover and arranging a mortgage.
“At the time I was working for a local authority and had a ‘death in service’ benefit as part of my salary package. It made sense that if I was to suffer a serious illness, there should be some way I could pay the mortgage if I couldn’t work for any period of time,” he said.
“My wife and I took out the same cover and we hoped never to have to claim on the policies.”
In July 2017, he was taking part in a 50-mile organised cycle race when he fell ill about 30 miles in. After a check over by race officials, he went home but after getting progressively worse, he called an ambulance and was rushed to hospital.
Diagnosed with a heart attack, he underwent an emergency operation to have a stent fitted and spent two days in hospital before returning home to recuperate.
“I was fit and healthy, I don’t drink or smoke and cycled regularly so to have a heart attack was completely unexpected. I claimed on the policy and, after checking with my consultant, the pay out was received quickly.
“I’ve been lucky enough to get back to full health and life’s back to normal but it was reassuring to know that we would be able to cope financially thanks to the critical illness cover.”
For more information life protection including critical illness cover, click here.