Illness Quotes - Income Insurance Cover Summary
- Designed to pay out an Income not lump sum on accident or sickness
- Usually has a waiting or deferred period from 4/8/13/26/52 weeks
- PHI Benefits are currently paid out tax free on claim until you return to work or plan end date
- Illness quotes may be level or inflation linked
- Medical evidence may be required and a medical examination for those with health issues
- Premiums may be guaranteed or reviewable
- Cover may be based on maximum of, say 50% to 65% of your before-tax earnings
- If self employed terms usually based on annual net profits
- Waiver of Premium (where the Insurer waives/protects & covers your premiums after a deferred period of 4/8/13/26 weeks due to sickness or accident)
If you are an employee and you fall ill, your employer might pay you your full pay for a few weeks or months. By law, an employer currently should pay most employees statutory sick pay for up to 28 weeks, though this will probably be a lot less than your full earnings. After that, you would probably have to rely on state benefits. If you are self-employed, you won't have this option.
State benefits are not generous. You would probably see a substantial drop in your income if you were out of work for more than a few months because of illness or disability. So what can you do to insure your income ?
Illness Quotes - Income Protection Cover
Getting an Illness quote for Income Protection Cover aims to put you back to the position you were in before you suffered a loss. But it does not allow you to make a profit out of your misfortune. So the maximum amount of income you can replace through insurance is broadly the after-tax earnings you have lost less an adjustment for State benefits you can claim. This usually translates into a maximum of, say 50% to 65% of your before-tax earnings.
If you can't work because of illness or disability, an illness insurance protection plan (also called income protection insurance, salary insurance, wage insurance, income life insurance or permanent health insurance, phi ) pays out a tax-free income.
However, some employers arrange Group Illness Insurance protection for their employees as a perk of their job, which can pay out an income after the statutory sick period. So check what you are entitled to.
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