Posted 8 Jan 2021

What are the 36 critical illnesses?

Many people who are looking for critical illness cover are concerned about what is covered and how it works. You might have heard in the past that there are 36 critical illnesses that are covered which isn’t always the case, but it’s a good place to start.

Most critical illness cover policies will include the 36 main conditions as well as several more depending on the insurer and level of the plan.

The following are widely considered 36 critical illnesses:

1. Cancer	19. Hepatitis (Fulminant Viral)
2. Heart Attack	20. Coronary Artery Disease
3. Stroke	21. Encephalitis
4. Kidney Failure	22. Head Trauma
5. Multiple Sclerosis	23. Medullary Cystic Disease
6. Parkinson’s Disease	24. Brain Surgery
7. Alzheimer’s Disease	25. Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery
8. Brain Tumour (Benign)	26. Lung Disease (end-stage)
9. Paralysis (limbs)	27. Surgery of the Aorta
10. Muscular Dystrophy	28. Terminal Illness
11. Third Degree Burns	29. Loss of Independence
12. HIV	30. Major Organ Transplant
13. Cardiomyopathy	31. Primary Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
14. Loss of Speech	32. Severe Coronary Artery Disease
15. Chronic Aplastic Anaemia	33. Heart Valve Surgery
16. Blindness (Permanent)	34. Angioplasty
17. Bacterial Meningitis	35. Coma
18. Liver Failure (end-stage)	36. Deafness (Permanent)

Looking at the current products that are available, almost all will at least cover these and many more. There are two different categories of critical illness cover which are:

Standard cover: These policies generally cover up to or around 75 critical illness definitions and will pay out 100% of the sum assured at the point of claim

Enhanced cover: This type of critical illness cover policy will pay out for up to 182 different serious illness definitions. The main difference is that it will pay out 100% for severe conditions and drop down to 10% based on severity or impact on lifestyle

Related articles:

What illnesses are covered by critical illness insurance?

If you need more advice or help to get the best critical illness cover for you then please feel free to contact our iam|INSURED experts on 0800 009 6559

Our advice is absolutely FREE and we offer cover from all of the TOP insurance brands

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Daniel Sharpe-Szunko

Managing Director at iam|INSURED

Daniel is an extremely passionate and accomplished expert within the insurance and mortgage world. He has dedicated almost all of his 20+ years in the financial services industry to helping people with different needs and circumstances to get the best outcomes... Over the past two decades, Daniel has worked with some of the biggest financial services brands to help promote fairer treatment for people who are not classed as 'standard' by insurers or lenders. Daniel also works with numerous health and medical charities, as well as providing support for a number of events to help raise awareness for medical conditions in the UK.

Email: [email protected]
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielsharpe-szunko

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