Financial Protection beyond Life Insurance, how important is Critical Illness Cover?

Many of us have been through it others still have it to come but we all know at some stage in our life the inevitable will happen, yes, we must consider our financial protection. There are few that revel in such an occasion, but what do we consider when we discuss our protection needs? For many of us financial protection begins and ends with some life insurance. Is this truly financial protection?There are such a range of products and providers catering to every need it is not difficult to be get consumed by the insurance world. So where do we start, life insurance is an obviously place but it almost seems rather backwards, in terms of risk, protecting yourself financially for the very end of your life. Surely we should be considering protection for the here and now and thus I bring to your attention critical illness cover.With the most prolific illnesses in the UK being heart disease and cancer it comes as no surprise that a critical illness policy is becoming more and more important. Even if you are lucky enough to survive such a life threatening illness there is a chance this  life changing experience is likely to affect you in the long term, perhaps even to the extent of being unable to return to you normal job.Having to suffer through such an illness the last thing you will want to be worrying about are your financial obligations, bills, mortgage repayments and other financial obligations are not going to aid your recovery. A critical illness policy is designed to remove this burden providing a tax free cash lump sum on diagnosis to ease the mind of your financial burdens. A critical illness policy is often purchased in tandem with term assurance also commonly known as life insurance. When combined with a life it is usual for the critical illness cover to act as an advanced payment providing a cash lump sum on diagnosis of a critical illness rather than on death. It is important to be aware that these plans will only pay out once and then terminate which means if it paid out on diagnosis of a critical illness there is no remaining life insurance.Where life insurance is a very straight talking product, you know where you stand, it will only pay out on death, a critical illness plan has many illnesses that it covers. The number of illnesses covered on a plan can vary considerably, you could expect anywhere from 20 up to 38 or so different critical illnesses covered. As you can imagine some illnesses are much more likely to occur than others carrying a greater risk factor however the range of critical illnesses covered should always be considered when choosing a plan. Similar to a life plan you must choose the length and level of cover you require, a critical illness policy does not need to cover a specific debt, if the policy is to pay out you can use the tax free cash sum for anything you require, monthly bills or everyday necessities. Like any other insurance, with critical illness cover there are a variety of products available in a competitive marketplace. To ensure you get the policy that best fits your need you may find it very useful to speak to an expert.