Get the best coverage for these serious illnesses

Critical illness insurance is called by different names around the world, including cancer insurance, heart attack insurance, specified disease insurance and dread disease insurance. No matter what it’s called, the purpose is the same: reducing the financial impact of a serious disease.

If you experience a covered disease or health event, a critical illness insurance policy will help you focus on your recovery by supporting your finances. You’ll receive a payment equal to the amount of insurance you purchase. You can use the money for 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 can cover a variety of the most common serious illnesses or conditions. Making a claim for symptoms like chest pains or a stomachache won’t trigger payment, but a diagnosis of covered condition like a heart attack or cancer could.

Many critical illness insurance policies also include a selection of riders to complement or bolster existing coverage. If you’re unfamiliar, a rider is an optional add-on you may select to enhance your policy. By adding a rider, you can extend coverage to your spouse or children, or expand it to include additional critical illnesses. You can attach a Return of Premium rider to your policy to have a portion of your premiums repaid to your loved ones if you die from something other than a covered critical illness.

If you’re worried about more diseases or conditions than those mentioned above, some policies allow you to purchase coverage for additional critical illnesses to create the best protection possible.

Assurity has simplified its Critical Illness Insurance offered directly to consumers. To increase access and keep costs low, it covers only these four major illnesses:

• Cancer (invasive or non-invasive)^*
• Heart Attack^**
• Stroke
• Advanced Alzheimer’s Disease

Learn more about Assurity’s Critical Illness Insurance here, including how to get an online quote in minutes.

Does critical illness insurance cover COVID-19? COVID-19 is not covered by Assurity’s Critical Illness insurance. When buying insurance, it’s important to know what is and isn’t covered so you aren’t surprised later. Transparency is important to us.

Critical illness policies pay a lump-sum benefit amount following the diagnosis of a covered condition. After diagnosis, you, as the covered individual, submit a claim for benefits, which are then paid directly to you.

You can use the benefit from a critical illness insurance policy to cover medical expenses, your mortgage, utility payments or even grocery bills. If experimental treatment is available, a critical illness insurance policy can help give you the means to pursue it. If you need to travel for procedures or physician visits, a critical illness insurance policy can help pay for your transportation and lodging.

When facing a life-threatening illness or condition, critical illness insurance helps give you the freedom to focus on your recovery.

How do I claim a critical illness? The process of making a critical illness insurance claim can vary depending on the product you buy and the carrier you buy from, but with Assurity, it’s easy. Once your doctor diagnoses you with a covered illness after the waiting period, you can submit a claim through our customer portal, MyAssurity.

Once your critical illness insurance claim is processed and approved, you’ll receive the benefit in one lump-sum payment. You can receive benefits for more than one diagnosis, provided it’s a different condition and separated from your first diagnosis by at least six months (depending on the state where you live).

To determine if critical illness insurance is worth it for you, it’s important to know the risks of receiving a critical illness diagnosis in your lifetime, as well as the medical cost of critical illness.

The risk of diagnosis: In 2020, an estimated 1.8 million Americans received a cancer diagnosis² — but only a third of that number died from the disease. Heart attacks are also common, with 805,000 occurring annually in the United States,³ and there are almost as many strokes suffered each year — a leading cause of adult disability.⁴

The odds of survival: Those numbers are scary, and nobody wants to imagine themselves in a situation where they’re facing a deadly disease. There is a silver lining, however — survival rates are increasing rapidly for most critical illnesses. For example, overall cancer rates declined 1.8% for men and 1.4% for women per year from 2001 to 2017.⁵ It’s more likely than ever that a cancer diagnosis isn’t a death sentence, but that doesn’t make such a diagnosis less of a financial burden.

The financial burden of critical illness: Thirty-two percent of Americans had medical debt in 2020.⁶ The current out-of-pocket maximum for a family is $14,100, a fraction of the total cost for cancer treatment.⁷ You might incur this cost for multiple years while you or a loved one battles cancer, leaving you with little in the way of funding for everything else you need. On top of that, transportation to and from treatment, lost time at work, and various comforts to make the treatment more pleasant all add to the financial cost of a cancer diagnosis. It’s a similar story for other critical illnesses, and one with which too many Americans are familiar.

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 Mayo Clinic, January 2020
² National Cancer Institute, Cancer Statistics, 2020
³ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, September 2021
⁴ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, May 2021
⁵ National Cancer Institute, September 2020
⁶ Salary Finance, 2020
⁷ Internal Revenue Service, 2021

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.

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

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.