What Does Group Critical Illness Insurance Cover?

Group Critical Illness Cover pays out a tax-free cash lump sum if a worker develops a specified critical illness.

But just what are these illnesses?

The most common illnesses employees claim for under these policies are:

• Cancer
• Heart attacks
• Strokes.

However, ‘core’ cover under a Group Critical Illness policy typically protects against a total of 10-12 serious illnesses.

As well as the above three, these usually include:

• Kidney failure
• Motor neurone disease
• Parkinson’s disease
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Major organ transplant
• Surgery to fit coronary artery bypass grafts
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).

Should a worker develop one of these conditions at the severity outlined in the policy, they’ll receive a lump sum payout.

Additional Critical Illnesses

You also have the option to include a list of ‘further’ or ‘additional’ illnesses on the policy. This will be for an extra premium, but will expand the scope of the protection.

Doing so adds cover for 20-25 or so additional serious illnesses, including conditions such as:

• Aplastic anaemia
• Bacterial meningitis
• Benign brain tumour
• Permanent and irreversible blindness / deafness
• Cardiomyopathy
• Paralysis
• Loss of limbs.

Ultimately, the best way to work out what your scheme covers is to consult your policy wording. This should have a list of the illnesses the scheme covers and the severity criteria that must be met for the employee to make a successful claim.