Disadvantages of Critical Illness Cover

The biggest disadvantage and worry with purchasing critical illness cover is that you may not get a pay out in the event of diagnosis, because of the terms and conditions of the policy. Even when you receive the full list of illnesses it may not always be straightforward. For instance Bupa offer a cite cancer as one of their covered illnesses but not all types of cancer. You have to read their full guide to find out which types of cancer are covered.  Insurance companies can also be very specific about paying out and although these terms and conditions are set out for you to read before you purchase the policy it may be hard to determine or argue when you are in a position where you require the lump sum, for example companies who will pay out for third-degree burns covering a certain percentage of the body and a different percentage of the face. Determining these factors may be quite unpleasant when you are trying to recover from third degree burns! The terms used in the list of illnesses will also probably be unfamiliar to a layman, such as ‘in situ carcinoma’. The vague terms used to qualify and quantify the illness or treatment can also be confusing, such as ‘of specified severity’ and ‘with persisting symptoms’. The problem is that the insurance company may have a different definition of ‘persisting’ or ‘severe’ to yours, and should you have suffered the devastating diagnosis of a critical illness you may not want to be fighting your insurance company for a payout.

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