How much does critical illness insurance pay in 2023?

Critical illness insurance is an insurance product designed to help protect you from the financial fallout of a serious disease or health event like a heart attack, stroke or cancer. It’s sometimes known as heart attack insurance, cancer insurance, specified disease insurance or dread disease insurance.

If you are diagnosed with a covered disease or health event, a critical illness insurance policy will help you focus on your recovery by supporting your finances. It gives you money you can use on whatever you need, from replacing lost wages or traveling for treatment to taking extra time off work or paying off your medical bills.

Critical illness insurance is not comprehensive health insurance. There is no substitute for comprehensive health insurance. You and your family should have comprehensive health insurance coverage before considering the purchase of critical illness insurance, in fact, some states require it. However, critical illness insurance can complement your health insurance by providing cash benefits directly to you if you are diagnosed with a covered condition. How you choose to spend the benefits is up to you.

If you’re diagnosed with a condition covered by your critical illness insurance policy – Assurity’s Critical Illness Insurance covers cancer*, heart attack**, stroke and advanced Alzheimer’s disease – you simply submit a claim for benefits. If everything is in order, you’ll receive a lump-sum payment that you can use in any way you want. For instance, you can use your critical illness insurance benefit to pay for:

• Travel and lodging for doctor’s appointments
• Out-of-pocket expenses such as experimental treatment
• Lost wages from time off work
• Living expenses such as your rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries and childcare
• Even a nice vacation while you recover

When it comes to most types of insurance, there’s no time like the present – and critical illness insurance is no exception. The cost of a critical illness insurance policy rises as you age – it’ll be much cheaper at age 30 than age 50, for example. Most insurance companies cap the age at which a person can buy a critical illness insurance policy at 65 or 70 years.

It’s also worth considering your future needs and plans. For example, do you plan to someday buy a bigger house with a larger mortgage to cover, have more children, or go back to school? These costs may all factor into the amount of coverage you want.

Unlike most other critical illness insurance plans, Assurity’s Critical Illness Insurance doesn’t reduce your benefit or raise your premiums when you turn 65. If you choose to buy an Assurity Critical Illness Insurance plan, you can rest easy knowing that you’ll receive your full benefit when you need it most and not have to pay more than you thought.

When you’d receive your critical illness insurance benefit payment depends, of course, on your policy. Almost all critical illness insurance policies have a waiting period of some sort with regard to cancer – 30 days, for example. Beyond that, many critical illness insurance policies will provide coverage immediately for medical events like a heart attack or stroke.

The process for making a critical illness insurance claim can vary depending on the product and carrier you purchase it from. Many carriers ask to undertake a lengthy claims process filled with forms and phone calls – but Assurity makes it easy. Log into MyAssurity – our online customer portal – submit the claim and any other relevant materials like physician information, and you’re done.

Most insurance companies that sell critical illness insurance offer a wide range of benefit amounts – perhaps as little as $5,000 or as much as $500,000. This depends on how much you’re willing and able to pay for a critical illness insurance policy, of course.

There’s no easy formula to find out how large of a critical illness insurance benefit you need. Each diagnosis will come with its own challenges and costs, and no two circumstances are alike.

What you should consider are the “knowns.” For instance, how much money do you have in your savings? How much is the deductible on your medical insurance? At the very least, you should have enough critical illness insurance to cover your out-of-pocket exposure – that is, your deductible and coinsurance up to your plan’s maximum. A larger policy might cover several years of out-of-pocket costs.

Since you can use the benefit from a critical illness policy to pay for whatever you want, you might want to factor in the costs of transportation or experimental treatments into your coverage.

The first step to finding the best critical illness policy is to figure out what you’ll need the money for so you can figure out how much coverage you’ll need.

When comparing various critical illness insurance policies, it’s important to consider how simple – or complex – you want your policy to be. What do you actually need covered? Do you need a medical exam to get coverage? Does the critical illness insurance policy have any fine print relating to, for example, how much your premiums fluctuate as you get older?

Assurity’s Critical Illness Insurance is designed with simplicity in mind – four covered conditions, up to $50,000 in coverage, no medical exams needed – and your premiums will not go up as you get older.

It’s easier than ever to get a critical illness insurance policy – in fact, you can start the process here and apply online in minutes. Then select your coverage and payment options, and you’re on your way to protecting your future. Or, if you’d just like to know how much a policy would cost for you or a loved one, you can use our quoter to get a good estimate.

1. Heart attack does not include established (old) myocardial infarction occurring prior to the issue date, sudden cardiac arrest, cardiac arrest or cardiopulmonary arrest.
2. Healthcare.gov, High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP), 2022

Additional disclosure information

LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS (may vary by state)

Pre-existing Condition. Pre-existing condition means a sickness or physical condition for which, during the 12 months before the issue date or last reinstatement date, the insured person received medical consultation, diagnosis, advice or treatment from a physician or had taken prescribed medication. No benefits will be paid for a critical illness that is caused by a pre-existing condition unless the date of diagnosis is after the policy has been in force for 12 months from the issue date or last reinstatement date.

Waiting Period. Waiting period means the 30 days following the issue date or ten days following the last policy reinstatement date. The date of diagnosis of a covered critical illness must be made while the coverage is in force and after any waiting period. No benefits will be paid if a diagnosis or a medical consultation that leads to diagnosis of invasive cancer or non-invasive cancer occurs during the waiting period. If cancer is diagnosed during the waiting period, benefits will be paid for a subsequent diagnosis of cancer if the insured person is symptom- and treatment-free for at least 12 consecutive months and in complete remission prior to subsequent diagnosis.

Misstatement of Age and/or Gender. If the insured person’s age and/or gender has been misstated, an adjustment in premiums, coverage or both will be made based on the correct age and/or gender. If, according to the correct age, the coverage provided by the policy would not have become effective or would have ceased, Assurity’s only liability during the period in which the insured person was not eligible for coverage shall be limited to a refund of premiums.

Misstatement of Tobacco Use. If, during the first two years of the policy, the tobacco status of the insured person has been misstated, Assurity will revise the policy’s benefit amount to the amount the premium paid would have purchased using the correct tobacco status on the issue date.

The policy will not pay benefits for losses that are caused by or are the result of an insured person:

• being exposed to war or any act of war, declared or undeclared;
• actively serving in any of the armed forces or units auxiliary thereto, including the National Guard or Army Reserve, except during active duty training of less than 60 days;
• engaging in hang-gliding, hot air ballooning, bungee jumping, parachuting, scuba diving, sail gliding, motor vehicle racing, parasailing, parakiting, mountain or rock climbing, B.A.S.E. jumping, sky diving or cave diving;
• being addicted to drugs or suffering from alcoholism;
• being intoxicated (as determined by the laws governing the operation of motor vehicles in the jurisdiction where loss occurs) or under the influence of an illegal substance or a narcotic (except for narcotics used as prescribed to the insured person by a physician);
• committing or attempting to commit a felony;
• being incarcerated in a penal institution or government detention facility;
• engaging in an illegal occupation;
• intentionally self-inflicting an injury; or
• committing or attempting to commit suicide, while sane or insane.

Assurity and its affiliates do not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.

Policy Form No. I H1820 underwritten by Assurity Life Insurance Company, Lincoln, NE.

Policy Form No. I H1820 DTC (NY) (Specified Disease) underwritten by Assurity Life Insurance Company of New York, Albany, NY.

IMPORTANT NOTICE— CRITICAL ILLNESS INSURANCE PROVIDES LIMITED BENEFIT COVERAGE. It is not a comprehensive major medical plan or Medicare supplement policy and does not satisfy the requirement for minimum essential coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is not a substitute for major medical insurance and may not be appropriate for Medicaid recipients. 

This policy may contain reductions of benefits, limitations and exclusions. Click here for standard Limitations and Exclusions. Product availability, features, rates, limitations and exclusions may vary by state. The state specific policy form is the ultimate authority for any questions about this product.

*In some states, diagnosis of cancer during the first 30 days following the policy’s issue date results in a significant benefit reduction or policy cancellation. The percentage benefit amount payable for invasive and non-invasive cancer combined cannot exceed 100%.

**Heart attack does not include established (old) myocardial infarction occurring prior to the issue date, sudden cardiac arrest, cardiac arrest or cardiopulmonary arrest. 

Assurity reserves the right to order, at the company’s expense, evidence of insurability which the company feels is necessary for the prudent evaluation of the risk.

Assurity is a marketing name for the mutual holding company Assurity Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Those subsidiaries include but are not limited to: Assurity Life Insurance Company and Assurity Life Insurance Company of New York. Insurance products and services are offered by Assurity Life Insurance Company in all states except New York. In New York, insurance products and services are offered by Assurity Life Insurance Company of New York, Albany, NY. Product availability, features and rates may vary by state.