Critical illness insurance 'can safeguard doctors' houses'

Critical illness insurance's "greatest achievement", in the opinion of one expert, is that it help protect people's houses, doctors may be interested to hear.

Dr Marius Barnard, who pioneered the cover, said the insurance policies had turned out better than he had ever expected.

"If critical illness cover removes [the threat] of losing your home and possessions [due to a critical illness] then that is the greatest achievement of the product," he said.

Dr Barnard added that these types of policies have evolved over the years and are now more wide-ranging than they were in the beginning.

"The product has now changed and can pay out on the functional diagnosis - not just on the diagnosis of the disease," he explained.

Cancer makes up about 50 per cent of all critical insurance claims in the UK, according to the Association of British Insurers.

Source: Adfero

Doctors can acquire advice regarding critical illness insurance through Wesleyan Medical Sickness.