One of the most important features of Critical Illness to bear in mind is it pays a lump sum in the event you fall unexpectedly and seriously unwell - if you are looking for an income in the event you need to claim you should research Income Protection in our Fact Centre.
Critical illness cover is like all other insurance - you pay your premiums which provides you with an agreed level of cover, then if you need to make a claim that meet's the agreed criteria, you receive a payment.
One of the crucial features of critical illness insurance is that you will only receive a payout if the insured life is diagnosed with a critical illness that is specified on the providers a list and their own definition criteria has been met.
The amount you pay for your critical illness insurance will be based on the information that you give the insurance company when you apply for the plan.
The premium you will need to pay will be based on a variety of factors which usually includes the level of cover required, how long you want that cover to be in place for, your age, your occupation, gender, and whether or not you smoke.
So if you're a sky-diving middle aged smoker whose day job involves working with machinery and you want a high level of cover, you're likely to pay a lot more than a 20-year-old non-smoking athlete who works in an office and wants only a small amount of cover.
It's worth bearing these factors in mind when you start looking for a provider - it's worth trying to avoid just taking the first or cheapest policy you find and shopping around as we all know that the cheapest is not always the best!
To research your critical illness position further you can use our exclusive interactive research tool, the critical illness finance navigator.
