A Business Protection Insurance policy deserves the same amount of time and thought as a personal life assurance policy, if not more, as there are other colleages involved as well as family members in most instances. Business Protection Insurance policies typically all contain a death benefit. The more comprehensive policies will usually include a critical illness element too. Executive income protection can also be included where key person protection does not quite meet all expectations.

Life Assurance/Insurance

If the life assured dies within the term of the policy and the premiums have been paid up to date, a cash lump sum is paid out. Many policies will also include a terminal illness option whereby if the life assured is diagnosed with a terminal illness and is expected to die within 12 months, the cash lump sum is paid out. In most instances the provider who offers the most competitive premium is recommended.

Critical Illness Insurance

Critical illness protection pays out a lump sum if the life assured has been diagnosed with a specified critical illness within the term of the policy. Most life companies insist that the applicant must survive a minimum of 14 days from the date of diagnosis in order to be able to claim. The comprehensiveness of critical illness policies varies greatly from provider to provider as do premiums. We tend to recommend critical illness policies more on their terms rather than their quoted premiums. Typically, all critical illness policies will cover the following critical illnesses:-

• Aorta graft surgery
• Benign brain tumour
• Blindness
• Cancer
• Coma
• Coronary artery by-pass surgery
• Deafness
• Heart attack
• Heart valve replacement or repair
• Kidney failure
• Loss of limbs
• Loss of speech
• Major organ transplant
• Motor neurone disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Paralysis / paraplegia
• Parkinson’s disease
• Stroke
• Terminal illness
• Third degree burns

Providers can add other critical illnesses to their policies in addition to those quoted above. Some critical illness policies cover up to 34 specified illnesses as well as the Total and Permanent Disability option which can be based on your own occupation rather than ANY occupation.

If you are in any doubt as to whether or not to consider criticall illness, please refer to our statistics page.