Critical illness insurance made its first apparition in South Africa in 1983 and was known as dread disease insurance or serious illness insurance. Before 1983, policies having the name cancer policy may have been sold in the USA providing cover for certain types of cancer. These cancer policies may be considered as the foundation of serious illness insurance. Gradually, serious illness insurance went worldwide and nowadays plays an important role in markets such as UK, Canada, East Asia, Israel, etc.

Serious illness insurance may award a tax free lump sum if the insured person is diagnosed with one of the critical illness conditions defined by the policy. Almost all serious illness insurance policies offer cover for cancer, stroke, heart attack, kidney failure and coronary artery bypass surgery. While some insurance companies may cover only seven or eight critical illness conditions, others may offer cover for up to 35 diseases. Serious illness insurance may help someone cope with the financial imbalance especially after diagnosis of a life threatening illness. The financial support may as a matter of fact help to manage a changed lifestyle.

Serious illness insurance was called dread disease insurance long ago in South Africa. The term serious illness insurance being too strong and unsuitable for many markets as well as marketing purposes, made many companies refrain from applying its usage. However, serious illness insurance may be preferably referred as crisis cover, trauma cover or living insurance. The rules which stipulate that serious illness insurance must cover only severe conditions may no longer apply. It may also be used as a means for financial security against numerous critical illness conditions. Insurers therefore tend to provide a wider choice of critical illnesses covered under their serious illness insurance plans. By doing so, they hope to target a wider audience and also to compete effectively in the insurance market.

Moreover, serious illness insurance may be useful to people who have social insurance that does not pay big to cater for a serious illness. A critical illness can imply high costs for treatment purposes. As a matter of fact, serious illness insurance may be mostly wanted in countries where the state social security systems are inadequate. Even if a good health security system exists many people may still want serious illness insurance. The reason may be because everyone wants to get the best medical care and treatments. Thus, serious illness insurance payout will allow them to do that either in a renowned clinic or overseas.

Furthermore, the additional benefits in the form of serious illness insurance may not necessarily mean paying for medical charges. The aftermath of a critical illness may sometimes be considerable. Thanks to serious illness insurance changes can be made to the existing environment to fit the actual health state of a person. Serious illness insurance payout can stabilize financial pressure by settling debts or mortgage.

Serious illness insurance remains one of the top insurance schemes on the market. The benefits obtained from serious illness insurance can be invaluable and certainly a big boost when one is critically ill.