It is now November and you may be aware of a rather noticeable increase in the numbers of moustached gentlemen on the go.  The ‘Movember’ campaign was established by two Australian friends in 2003 to promote awareness of men’s health and prostate cancer.  They charged $10 to grow a moustache and found 30 other willing volunteers prepared to take up the challenge.  Since then it has grown into an international campaign of moustache growing, raising millions in aid of mental health and suicide prevention, and also prostate and testicular cancer.

In 2020 an estimated 1.4 million men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, with testicular cancer being the world’s most common cancer among 15-39 year old men.   Whilst we would all wish to avoid any such diagnosis, the facts are that until a complete cure or prevention becomes a reality these cancers will continue to affect lives.

One step you can take to provide assistance through the difficult times following a cancer diagnosis is to have critical illness insurance in place. This type of over provides a lump sum payment on diagnosis of one of a number of conditions, as listed in the policy terms.  The range of conditions covered will differ between providers, but in general most will cover upwards of 40 illnesses with some covering many more.  Cancers feature highly on the claims statistics, with cancer diagnosis being the most common claim condition by quite some distance. These, along with claims for heart attacks and strokes typically account for around 80% of all claims made.

It is easy to assume that many of the critical illness covered are more likely to affect ‘older’ generations.  However, several insurance providers’ statistics show claimants average age is in their late 40’s and early 50’s.  The majority of that age group are likely to have family and/or financial commitments which would still need to be met in the event of a diagnosis. Payment from a critical illness policy could help ease any concern about continuing to meet these commitments during an undoubtedly difficult period.

As with any type of insurance, you may ask yourself how likely is it that a claim would be paid if you were unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with one of the covered conditions.  The simple answer is that is highly likely, as on average more than 90% of claims submitted are paid.  The premiums and range of conditions covered will vary between different providers.  Our in-house Financial Services Team would be happy to discuss your personal circumstances with you to find the most appropriate policy tailored to meet your needs.

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