Legal and General Critical Illness Cover

How good is Legal & General Critical Illness Cover? 

More Than Money finds out…

If you read my article about Legal & General and their Life cover, you’ll probably already have formed a bit of an idea of who they are and what they’re about. 

But what about when it comes to Critical Illness Cover? 

This article covers their two Critical Illness options; their ‘Standard’ and their ‘Extra’ option.

Like a lot of insurance companies over the last few years, Legal & General now offer two types of Critical Illness. 

Their ‘Standard’ cover, which is the one offered on comparison sites and covers you for 33 different illnesses…

 …and their ‘Extra’ cover, is an upgraded option that really does stand out as one of the best plans out there covering you for 79 different illnesses.

However, this option can only be taken out once you have received professional advice. 

Below are some stats which will give you an insight into what’s going on behind the scenes.

Critical Illness Cover 

92% of all Critical Illness claims were paid out in 2019 with a total of £224m paid out across 3,351 claims. 

The most common Critical Illnesses that received a pay-out were cancer (66%), heart attacks (12%), and strokes (6%), with the average pay-out to policyholders being £66,857

When it comes to insuring your life I think we agree that death is a pretty cut and dried issue!

If you read my article on ‘Legal & General’s Life Insurance cover’, you’ll notice they paid out a higher % of Life Insurance claims compared to their Critical Illness claims.

There is a good reason for this… non-disclosure… i.e. people who haven’t told them about the cheeky fag they enjoy or the lump they thought wasn’t an issue. 

Legal and General’s ‘Standard’ cover

To help paint a picture, I have listed all the illnesses Legal and General Critical Illness covers which would result in you receiving a ‘Full’ pay out. 

This simply means you have received 100% of the money you are insured for.

There are some illnesses covered (not listed below) which are not classed as ‘Critical’ but would still give you up to £25k if you claimed (more on this later).

If you were unfortunate enough to get one of these illnesses, before Legal & General pay out, you’ll need to be ‘ill enough’.

See also  How Good Is Legal and General Life Insurance, Read Our Review

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, Legal and Generals definition of a Heart Attack is –

Death of heart muscle, due to inadequate blood supply, that has resulted in all the following: 

Confirmed using diagnostic image tests

A rise of biochemical cardiac specific markers such as troponins or enzymes.

This leads me on to what I started referring to earlier, there are illnesses Legal & General cover which have more lenient definitions.

Meaning that  basically, you don’t have to be as ‘ill’, however because they are easier to claim on… you won’t get ‘ALL’ your money!

Legal & General’s Critical Illness Cover And Partial/Additional payments

These easier to claim-for-illnesses are called ‘Partial Payments’…

Legal & General 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 Legal & General 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. 

Legal & General’s Critical Illness Cover And Kids

Did someone mention the kids?

Yes, indeed I did, and as horrible as it is to talk about, there might be instances where your children could suffer from a Critical Illness. 

For no extra cost up to two children will be covered under your Legal & General Critical Illness cover, and applies to biological, adopted, and stepchildren. 

Children are covered automatically under this policy from the age of 30 days up until their 22nd birthday for the same illnesses you are covered for under your policy. 

If they get one of the illnesses listed above, you can claim on their Critical Illness policy for up to £25k. 

This is your money to have as parents so you can take time off work and focus on your child getting better.  

This policy also includes a Children’s Hospitalisation Benefit that pays out £5,000 if your child is in hospital for 28 consecutive days following an accident.

There’s also a Family Accommodation Benefit that will pay £100 a night during the 3 months following your child being diagnosed with a Critical Illness, up to a total of £1,000.

Not a pleasant thing to talk about I admit, but in the event of the death of a child, Legal & General Critical Illness cover will pay £5,000 towards funeral costs if the cause of death was not a condition that was present at birth.  

Again, I want to be clear, anything relating to the children’s cover, is not chargeable and is included automatically. 

Additional benefits included in Legal & General’s Critical Illness plan… for FREE

OK, so we know Legal & General have a long tradition of supplying financial protection and are trusted by millions. 

We also know they pay out in most cases. 

But what about those little touches and unique selling points that can make all the difference to a customer saying, “Yep, I’ll go with them,” or continuing to shop around?

I did look around for an insurance company that promised the winning lotto numbers, but I couldn’t find one. 

However Legal & General does have a great offer if you’re still on the fence.

Hospitalisation Benefit 

 If you’re admitted to hospital with physical injuries immediately following an accident and have to stay for a minimum of 28 days, Legal & General will pay you £5,000.

Claiming this won’t affect any future Critical Illness claims. 

Nurse Support Service 

This includes six benefits designed to provide the long-term practical advice and emotional support you might need to deal with the effects of stress, depression and other mental health problems. 

Legal & General Nurse Support Services include the following; Serious illness, Disability or Bereavement support, Second Medical Opinion, Mental health support, Carer support, Help at Home and Eldercare.

Additional PAID Benefit From Legal & General Critical Illness Cover

As great as freebies are, you’re always going to get a little bit more if you pay for it, and insurance is no exception. 

Here’s a look at how much bang a few extra bucks could get you.

GP24  

Legal & General GP24 Service removes waiting times, giving you access to a GP 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from anywhere in the world. 

This service is available over the phone or via webcam for a face-to-face consultation and only cost’s £3.25 per month, basically a pint of beer!

Legal & General’s ‘Extra’ Critical Illness Cover

As I mentioned above, Legal & General critical illness cover offers an upgraded option. 

It’s known as an ‘advice’ only policy.

This simply means you need to have received advice first before you can get a quote. 

This option will insure you against 18 further ‘Full’ conditions and 28 more ‘Partial Payments’.

Furthermore it will increase the children’s cover from up to 25K to 30K, while also insuring your children for a further 8 child specific conditions… such as child meningitis.

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

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

29/01/2020	L&G (Standard)	L&G (Extra)
Full Payment	31	49
Partial/Additional Payments	2	30
Total	33	79
Children’s Cover	25k	30k
Children Covered	2 Children	Unlimited
Kids Specific Illness Covered	0	8
Hosptial Benefit	5k after 28 days in hospital due to an accident	5k after 28 days in hospital due to an accident
Children’s Funeral Benefit	5k	5k

If you would like a FREE quote for their upgraded cover, or if you have any questions about Critical Illness Cover, give a member of our team a call and we can give you all of the advice you need!