Critical Illness Insurance

Critical illness insurance pays out a cash lump sum on diagnosis of a specified critical illness.  The exact definition must be met in order to claim.

Policies may be standalone (when benefit is usually only paid if the life insured survives a specified period - typically 14-30 days) or part of another policy (also known as a rider policy)

Most critical illness insurance is taken out with life assurance, usually in the form of term assurance.