What’s not typically covered by a critical illness policy?

When you’re taking out critical illness cover, it’s important to know that some illnesses and early-stage illnesses may not be covered in your policy.  

Your policy won’t pay the critical illness benefit if there were signs, symptoms or a diagnosis of the illness before the policy started which you did not mention during your application.  

For example, if a cancer diagnosis is related in any way to a pre-existing condition that you didn’t disclose during your application.

You should also inform us if there are any changes in your health, family history, lifestyle or occupation between your application and the time the policy starts.

Your policy will also specify a survival period. This is the number of days you need to survive after diagnosis in order to make a claim.

Your illness may not be covered if it has not reached a specified level of severity, or if it is a linked to inappropriate use of alcohol or drugs.

You can find out the full list of exclusions in your policy booklet.