Aviva Critical Illness Review

In the first of my articles about Aviva, I talked a little about the company’s history and what they can offer you in the way of Life Insurance, as well as looking at their free added benefits. 

Well, I’m back baby!

This time with my Aviva Critical Illness Review.

I’m going to tell you all about Aviva’s two Critical Illness Cover options; their ‘Standard’ cover and ‘Upgraded’ cover.

In 2018 Aviva offered an ‘Upgraded’ Critical Illness policy to go alongside their ‘Standard’ option. 

This increased the number of Illnesses you could claim on from 37 to 88. 

This coupled with the fact they increased their maximum cover from £500,00 to £2m in 2009, make Aviva an insurance force to be reckoned with. 

This all sounds very impressive, but let’s get on with the important bit: how likely is it you will get your money if you are taken critically ill? 

In a word: very…

Critical Illness Cover 

The stats are high with 93.1% of Avivav critical illness claims being paid out in 2019. 

The only reasons a small percentage were not paid was due to the customer not being ‘ill’ enough to claim (more on this later), or where inaccurate statements were made on the policy forms regarding health and lifestyle –

See, you must be honest guys! It’s just not worth the risk!

4,957 claims were paid overall with an average pay-out of £71,239

Being insured against illness can be a slightly more complicated process than the issue of Life Insurance.

This is simply because it covers so many things, unlike being dead, which is just…well, dead.

Aviva’s ‘Standard’ Critical Illness Cover

Insurance companies do vary when it comes to what they will and won’t insure you against.

So to make things easier, I’ve listed the 35 illnesses of Aviva’s ‘Standard’ Critical Illness Cover below. You’re welcome…

If you were unfortunate enough to get one of these illnesses, before Aviva pays out, you have to be… ‘ill enough’.

How ‘ill’ you need to be, can be found in their key feature’s document or their website. 

They are known as the ‘definition’ of an ‘illness’. 

For example, Aviva’s definition of a Cardiac Arrest is –

‘Cardiac Arrest – with insertion of a defibrillator’

A typical definition of cancer would be that the cancer cells must be invasive… i.e. the cancer has spread. 

This leads me onto my next point… what if you never get critically ill? What if your illness is caught early and you don’t meet the policy definition?

Aviva offers ‘Partial’ pay outs for a couple of illnesses. 

Aviva’s Partial/Additional Critical Illness Cover payments

In addition to the illnesses listed above, Aviva and all other insurance companies include something called ‘Partial Payments’.

These are illnesses which would not result in a ‘Full’ pay out. 

They are less severe illnesses which are not classed as ‘Critical’… but you can still claim on. 

Aviva offer two, listed below:

1. Low-grade Prostate Cancer requiring specified treatment-The lower of either £25,000, or 25% of the cover amount you have

2. Carcinoma in situ of the breast requiring surgery to remove the tumour –The lower of either £25,000, or 25% of the cover amount you have.

These are essentially just cancerous lumps being removed with no spread and no Chemo. 

Anyone covered by the policy can claim for each of these illnesses once without it affecting what Aviva will pay on a successful ‘Full’ claim for a critical illness in the future. 

For example, if you had a £100,000 Critical Illness policy, and you received a partial payment of £25,000 for a low-grade Prostate Cancer claim, this would not come off your £100,000.

Nor would it cancel your policy or put your premiums up… it’s essentially a ‘FREE’ pay-out. 

Aviva’s Critical Illness Cover For Children

Speaking of our future, we all know the children are it (Whitney taught us that), and as unpleasant as it may be to think about, it is a sad fact that sometimes they too can become critically ill. 

Could you afford to take the time of work if the worst was to happen to your child? or afford to provide the level of care they might need? 

Aviva’s Critical Illness cover automatically includes children’s Critical Illness cover.

This means they’re covered for the same illnesses you’re covered for above. 

Aviva would pay you up to £25,000, allowing you as parents to take some time off with your child, or to fund a special treat to enjoy as a family. 

The policy also includes a Children’s Hospital Benefit which will pay out if your child has to spend more than 7 consecutive nights in hospital.

This benefit pays out £100 a night from the eighth night onwards up until 30 consecutive nights. 

There is also a Children’s Death Benefit included in Aviva’s Critical Illness Cover policy, which will pay out £5,000 in the event of the death of a child aged 30 days and until their 21st Birthday.

Additional PAID Benefits to Choosing Aviva Critical Illness Cover

What about the paid benefits I mentioned at the beginning of this article? 

I’m sure you’ve probably read that and thought, ‘Paid benefits? Nah, you’re alright,’ but trust me, it’s worth reading on…

Fracture Cover 

Pretty self-explanatory, you can pay £4 extra a month on your Aviva Critical Illness policy and if you fracture a bone, you’ll get a pay-out. 

The size of the pay-out will depend on the type of fracture – there are 18 specified types – who knew!?

And they do exclude some hobbies and occupations, so call us if you do anything risky! 

Global Treatment 

For just £4 extra a month, this benefit will cover you and your child for the cost of treatment and travel to the best doctors and medical facilities around the world (outside the UK). 

The cover will pay out up to £1m per person during a 12 month period and will cover as many treatments as you need up to the amount of £2m.

This includes medical, travel, accommodation expenses and the costs of any medication which cannot be bought through the NHS. 

The add-on also allows you to bring a companion with you (your partner). 

They will also have all their travel and accommodation costs paid for. 

Aviva’s Upgraded Critical Illness Policy

As I mentioned above, Aviva now offers an upgraded option to their Critical Illness policy.

However, there is a catch, this option is not offered on comparison sites. 

This option with Aviva can only be taken once and only after you have received professional advice from a qualified Adviser. 

The upgraded version will insure you against 14 further ‘Full’ conditions and 37 more ‘Partial Payments’.

Furthermore it will double the children’s cover from up to 25K to 50K, while also insuring them for a further 23 child specific conditions…such as child’s meningitis.

These are just some of the ‘Upgraded’ options you get. 

Please see my table below which gives you a snapshot of the difference. 

If you are interested in reading more about Aviva why not check out our article How good is Aviva’s Life Insurance?

29/01/2020	AVIVA (Standard)	AVIVA (Upgraded)
Full Payments	35	49
Partial/Additional Payments	2	39
Total	37	88
Children’s Cover	25k	50k
Children Cover	Unlimited	Unlimited
Kids Specific Illness Covered	0	23
Hospital Benefit	£100 per night up to £3,000 after 7th day	£100 per night up to £3,000 after 7th day
Children’s Funeral Benefit	5k	5k

If you are interested in reading more about Aviva why not check out our article How good is Aviva’s Life Insurance?