Critical Illness Cover Calculator Ireland

Serious illness and critical illness insurance in Ireland

Serious illness cover, sometimes called specified illness or critical illness cover, may pay an agreed one-off lump sum if an insured person develops a condition satisfying the precise definition in their contract and the other claim terms.

This differs from income protection, which is generally intended to provide an ongoing benefit for eligible inability to work, often after a waiting period. The CCPC notes that the number of covered conditions is less important than the definitions and severity criteria used by insurers.

What this calculator models

The tool adds immediate costs, the household cash shortfall for the assumed disruption period, care and support expenses, and any debt you specifically want to settle. It then subtracts accessible savings and existing qualifying serious illness cover you choose to assume would pay.

The difference is an illustrative financial contingency gap, not the amount of insurance you can purchase, a guaranteed settlement or evidence that an insurer would accept a future claim.

For example, €10,000 of immediate costs, a €1,800 monthly gap for 12 months, €12,000 of family care, and €10,000 of debt gives €53,600. With €15,000 of savings, the residual financial gap is €38,600.

Serious illness cover versus income protection

The two benefits solve different problems. A lump sum can be useful for one-off alterations, medical travel, replacing care and the first months of disruption. Income protection is more focused on ongoing lost earnings where insured occupational and medical tests are met.

You should also check employer sick pay, statutory or social welfare entitlements, an existing disability benefit, savings, and the costs that might reduce during illness. The calculation is deliberately simplified; many of those factors are not automatically included.

Accelerated versus additional illness benefits

An accelerated serious illness payment attached to life insurance can reduce or extinguish the death cover. An additional illness benefit may be independent of the term-life death benefit. These structures are not equivalent. Read the contract's definitions and, if applicable, what happens to a joint policy following an accelerated illness payout.

A life-only policy is not automatically an illness policy. If you already hold life insurance or mortgage protection, ask your insurer whether specified illness cover is truly included and whether a payout would affect your mortgage protection.

What illnesses qualify?

Common example groups may include specified serious cancers, heart attacks, stroke and other conditions, but policy definitions vary and many conditions or lesser-severity cases do not meet them. Some contracts have survival periods and specific exclusions. Do not treat the calculator's financial number as a prediction of medical coverage.

Practical comparison checklist

Compare insurer wordings for each illness, severity thresholds, survival requirements, permanent disability definitions, partial payments, children's benefits, indexation, conversion rights and how claims are assessed. Obtain quotes for the same benefit amounts and terms, and make full medical disclosures. Consider a regulated adviser for policy suitability.

FAQ

Will critical illness insurance pay if I am diagnosed with any cancer?

No. Eligibility depends on the policy's covered condition and the exact medical definition. Some early or less severe cancers may be excluded.

Does it replace income protection?

Usually not. Serious illness is normally a lump sum on a qualifying specified illness; income protection can cover a broader range of eligible inability-to-work situations.

Do existing illness benefits count as guaranteed money?

No. The field is a modelling assumption, not confirmation that a future claim will qualify.

What if I have mortgage protection with critical illness?

Check whether illness cover is accelerated or additional, and whether an illness claim reduces the remaining mortgage death benefit.

Useful sources

• CCPC — Serious illness insurance
• CCPC — Income protection insurance
• Compound — Income Protection Insurance Ireland