Serious Illness Cover Comparison

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What is Critical Illness Cover?

Critical illness insurance pays out a tax-free lump sum if you are diagnosed as having one of the specific life-threatening conditions defined in the policy.

What is VitalityLife Serious Illness Cover?

VitalityLife's Serious Illness Cover pays out a tax-free lump sum if you're diagnosed with one of the conditions we cover. The amount we pay you is based on the severity of your condition. And if you make a claim for a condition that pays out part of your cover amount, we keep covering you for the remaining amount so you can claim again.

How does VitalityLife's Serious Illness Cover differ to Critical Illness Cover from another insurer?

We cover more illnesses than a typical critical illness policy - a typical critical illness policy only covers you for around 45 conditions¹. With our Primary Serious Illness Cover, you would be covered for more than twice as many conditions. And if you chose our Comprehensive Serious Illness Cover, you’d be covered for nearly four times as many.

We cover conditions when they're less severe, so you can get the help you need, when you need it– typical critical illness policies would pay out if you had a severe condition – for example, if you lost your sight in both eyes. We’d pay out in these circumstances too. But we understand that it’s not just the most severe form of a condition that affects people’s lives. So we also pay out a percentage of your cover amount for things that aren’t as severe. For example, with our Comprehensive Serious Illness Cover, we would pay out 15% of your cover amount if you lost sight in one eye. Most critical illness policies wouldn’t do this.

You could claim more than once– if you make a successful claim, most insurers will pay out 100% of the cover amount and then stop your policy. So if you needed to claim again, you might not be covered. And it could be expensive – or impossible – for you to buy the same amount of cover again. We make sure we can protect you even after you’ve made a claim. We don’t pay out your whole lump sum if you don’t need it. So, if you claim for a condition that’s not very severe, we pay out for part of the amount you’re covered for, and keep covering you for the remaining amount.

We cover all heart attacks and all strokes– if a doctor tells you you’ve had a heart attack or a stroke, we pay out. The amount we pay depends on the severity of your condition. It means we’re able to cover all types of heart attack and all strokes. Most other insurers don’t do this.

We cover some early stage cancers, and our Comprehensive Serious Illness Cover covers more cancers than any other insurer–we pay out on a number of less severe and early-stage cancers that many other insurers don’t cover. As a result, our Comprehensive Serious Illness Cover is 87%¹ more likely to pay out for a cancer claim than a typical critical illness policy. Our Primary and Comprehensive Serious Illness Cover both cover low-grade prostate cancer without the need for specific treatment.

We help before permanent symptoms appear–If you’re diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, you may need to make important changes to your lifestyle. But once you develop permanent symptoms, you may be less able to make these changes or less likely to benefit from them. With our Comprehensive Serious Illness Cover, we don’t wait for permanent symptoms to appear before we help. We pay out 10% of your cover amount as soon as you’re diagnosed. The rest of your cover amount is still available to you. So if your condition gets worse, or you’re diagnosed with another, you can claim again. You can keep doing this until you have used up your whole cover amount.

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1. Source: Hannover Re UK Life Branch February 2016

• Estimates are set by Association of British Insurers as at 2014
• VitalityLife estimates are based on the VitalityLife Plan with Comprehensive SIC
• Estimates are based on the likelihood of making a claim before age 65