Add dread disease cover to your life insurance policy

As a 1Lifedirect life insurance policy holder you have the option of adding dread disease cover to your policy. Dread disease cover, also known as critical illness insurance, will provide a payout if you suffer from a serious illness like a stroke, cancer or organ failure.

Professor Chris Barnard, the cardiac surgeon who performed the world’s first successful human-to-human heart transplant, invented dread disease cover in 1983. It has since become an essential part of the life insurance portfolio of insurance companies all over the world.

When considering adding the dread disease option to your life insurance policy, ask yourself one simple question: would my family survive if I ever fell seriously ill and was unable to work. Chronic illness takes its toll on families in many ways. The family loses one of two incomes – or perhaps the only income if it is a single-parent family. A breadwinner may be forced to stop working completely, work less or work at a job that does not pay as well. Then there is the financial burden of additional medical expenses. Financial trauma aside, one cannot forget the emotional and psychological impact chronic illness will have on a family.

1Lifedirect dread disease cover will pay out a percentage of your life cover amount (from R50 000 to R2 million) if you suffer from a dread disease. The list of dread diseases that would be covered is listed in your policy book and includes:

• Cancer
• Cardiovascular diseases like angioplasty, heart valve repair or replacement
• Heart attacks
• Strokes
• Organ transplants or organ failure
• Diseases of the nervous system
• Connective tissue diseases
• Gastrointestinal diseases
• Aids

Your dread disease benefit includes a Guaranteed Assurability option. Guaranteed Assurability means that you can increase you cover amount every third anniversary of your policy or when your lifestyle changes. These changes could include, for example, marriage, the birth or adoption of a child or even the purchase of a house.

It is critical that you check your Policy Book for a list of general exclusions. General exclusions are a list of reasons that would legally entitle 1Lifedirect to reject a claim. Such reasons include excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs, radioactivity and nuclear explosions and most importantly non-disclosure of information. At the same time you need to check your Policy Schedule for a list of specific exclusions relevant to you.