If you’re lucky, you’re never had to see a loved one suffer through a critical illness. Such illnesses have far-reaching, devastating effects on the patient and their loved ones’ lives. These effects can be emotional, psychological, and often even financial. Most critical patients require constant medical care. This tends to run them a bill that eats through their savings or, worse, plunges them into debt. Despite the administration’s efforts to provide affordable medical care for everyone, millions of Britons cannot get the required help on time.

 

How critical illness affects life insurance

Having the right insurance policy can help you avoid this. Life insurance ensures that your loved ones get the mental and financial support they need in the event (God forbid) of your untimely death. Critical illness cover provides extensive medical healthcare and life support facilities, whereas life insurance cover offers to pay a lump sum after your death. Together, these policies help you look after your family right through these illnesses. But how common are these critical illnesses in the U.K?

NHS data shows that an alarmingly high number of Britons lose their lives to critical illnesses each year. Listed below are some of the most common types of critical illnesses.

Some of the most common types of critical illnesses
Cancer

Cancer is arguably the most dreaded silent killer. The word itself might spark fear in you. Worsening cancer tumors are one of the top five causes of death among Britons. The fact that Britain’s cancer mortality rate has only risen in the past decade is extremely concerning. What’s the leading cause of this? That packet of Sterlings in your pocket. 🚬 Most cases of lung cancer (the most fatal cancer in the U.K) are caused because of smoking.

Heart Disease

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death among Britons. While drinking and binging are inherent parts of the all British lifestyle, they also lead to higher risks of artery blockage and heart failure. Together, these conditions claim as many as 460 lives every day.

Respiratory diseases

Over 1.2 million people in the U.K are currently living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Coupled with asthma, COPD kills around 23,000 Brits each year. Rampant pollution and, of course, your beloved cigarettes are a leading cause of respiratory diseases in Britain. Now that smokers are also under an added risk of sustaining severe lung injuries due to Covid-19, it might finally be time for you to quit.

Dementia

In 2019, there were over 850,000 people in the U.K living with dementia. This means that one in every 14 people over 65 suffered from some form of the illness (the most common one being Alzheimer’s). Doctors believe that lifestyle choices are a significant reason for this (it might be time to cut down on the weekend drinking, if you haven’t already!).

Liver Disease

Liver Disease and Cirrhosis are the only major causes of mortality that are on the rise in the U.K while they are decreasing among other European countries. This, again, can be attributed to the fact that most British adults regularly exceed the daily drinking limit suggested by the NHS. While we’re all entitled to the occasional pint or two, it is clear from this that excessive drinking is, in fact, the leading cause of premature death in the U.K.

Impact of Mental Health

The onset of critical illnesses has been directly linked to mental health problems such as depression, stress, and anxiety.

These conditions further worsen the patient’s physical state and make a recovery/remission from the disease several times harder. Having the right life insurance cover can help you and your loved ones find peace during these difficult situations. Today nearly one in four Brits deal with mental health challenges and this number is only set to grow due to the impacts of the pandemic.

We are nowhere near where we want and need to be, but we are trying to address some of these mental health issues in the insurance industry. We currently have removed a few discriminatory clauses in our life insurance flow and questions and look forward to making more changes in the future!
Our goal: better life insurance policies for you and your loved ones

At Bequest, we aim to help you plan a stress-free future. While we don’t cover all types of illnesses currently, we are working every day to make our life insurance plans better and to cover more people. Our comprehensive life insurance policies help ensure that your family has the financial assistance they need.

If you have any other questions or would like to discuss any policies, please contact us on our website chat or at alexa@bequest.com.

No nonsense life cover is just a few minutes.

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