Vanilla Life Blog

Life-changing drugs for hundreds and thousands of Alzheimer patients could soon be made available on the NHS.  The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has ruled at the medications are cost effective and should be available on prescription. 

What is it?

A degenerative disease causing a decline in mental functions and widely different degrees of disability.  Patients ultimately become unable to look after themselves.

Alzheimer’s disease is covered by many insurers as a Critical Illness, which means diagnosis of the disease could result in a payout from a life insurance policy of this kind. 

For a Critical Illness claim to be paid most insurers will look for a definite diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease by a Consultant Neurologist, Psychiatrist or Geriatrician.  There must be permanent clinical loss of the ability to do all of the following:

• Remember
• Reason
• Perceive, understand, express and give effect to ideas

This means that without the need for a patient to self fund an expensive drugs programme, a payout from a Critical Illness element of a life insurance policy could be used to fund a carer or cover reduced income if the sufferer is unable to work. 

Critical illness is available as a standalone benefit or as an additional benefit available with most life insurance policies and Alzheimer’s disease is one of many Critical Illnesses covered by this type of plan. 

Critical can be a very beneficial type of insurance, but can also be quite costly depending on individual factors.  However using a company which provides life insurance quotes online can drastically reduce the cost. 

Online life insurance brokers such as Vanilla Life reinvest any commission they receive into life insurance and critical illness policies to drive down the cost, attempting to provide the lowest possible rates.  So don’t be put of by the cost of quality cover, it is possible to find quality cover at a low cost.

I our experience many people get confused with the difference between “Life insurance with Critical Illness Benefit” and “Life Insurance with Terminal Illness Benefit”, and when you are searching for online life insurance, its important that people know the difference

Vanilla Life aims to make everything as clear as possible to enable people to make the correct decision about the cover they want – so here’s our view of difference:

Terminal Illness Benefit will pay out if the person insured is diagnosed with an illness there are expected to die from (usually with a life expectancy of 12 month or less).  Terminal Illness is usually found as a standard in most life insurance contracts

Critical Illness – this differs significantly in that the policy benefit will pay out on diagnosis of an illness that you are not expected to die from.  So illnesses such as non terminal cancer, heart attack, loss of limbs where a person is expected to carry on living are all covered and could result in a policy claim being paid – providing that the illness meets the insurers’ definition.

So, in our view the difference is fairly simple – Terminal Illness assumes you will die from the illness, Critical Illness assumes you will recover.

In the event of death there is often a large financial impact, but critical illness can also leave people in a state of financial hardship if they are unable to work or look after a family. It is often worth considering some critical illness when you are looking for online life insurance even if it is not the full amount you would want – it’s often said that something is better than nothing.

Quite often people don’t realise the impact smoking has on life and Critical Illness insurance premiums.  In our experience a smoker tends to pay, on average, around 50% more than a non smoker for their life insurance.

The reason for this is due to the increased risk perceived by the insurer, and increased likelihood of claims on a life or critical illness policy.

Remember even if you have stopped smoking, you must be free of use of any form of nicotine (including patches, gum etc) for 12 months before an insurer would accept you on non smoker terms – and beware, not telling an insurance company that you smoke could result in your policy being invalid.

If you have stopped smoking for over a year, why not use Vanilla Lifes online life insurance quote and apply system to see how much you can reduce your life or critical illness premiums – you may be surprised at how much you can save.

Although smokers attract higher rates for life insurance it is still possible to drive down the cost of your cover.  Whether you are reviewing your existing policy or starting a new one, using Vanilla Life will ensure you receive the lowest rates available to us – and remember, we reinvest all our commission to make your premium cheaper.

When people consider or take out Life insurance, Terminal Illness and Critical Illness cover generally people think about the financial impact on life from being unable to work.  People view life insurance, terminal Illness and critical illness cover as a way to ensure they are financially secure through an uncertain time.

Less frequently people consider what else they could need the money for, specifically treatments not readily available on the NHS.

Recently a drug used to treat advanced liver cancer was turned down for NHS funding by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence).  The drug, Sorafenib (trade name Nexavar) was considered to expensive given the marginal benefit it demonstrated following the evidence submitted by Bayer, the manufacturer.

The cost of Sorafenib is £27,000 per patient, and will not be routinely funded for use on NHS.  Sorafenib is licenced for the treatment of advanced liver cancers.

Further information can be found on the NICE website, or by reading this press release: http://www.nice.org.uk/media/D00/F8/2010058SorafenibForAdvancedHCCFinalGuidance.pdf

Its always worth considering all financial impact when looking at Life insurance, Terminal illness or Critical illness Cover.

Using Vanilla Lifes online life insurance quote and apply system will allow you to find the most competitive rates and policies.

Good morning, well development of Vanilla Life is well under way.

We are working with some of the best designers and developers to bring produce the real home of low cost quality life insurance.

This blog will keep you updated with development and then become a real source of vital information for people searching for online life insurance.