Need critical illness coverage?
Critical Illness Insurance • Supplemental Cash Protection • 2026
Even with solid health insurance, a serious diagnosis can leave a gap — deductibles, coinsurance, travel to specialists, time off work, and everyday bills that don’t stop just because you’re sick. Critical illness insurance adds a lump-sum cash benefit on top of your medical plan so you can focus on treatment instead of scrambling for money, whether you’re an individual, family, or small employer looking to offer extra protection.
Blake Insurance Group is an independent agency licensed in multiple states. We design critical illness strategies that coordinate with your health, disability, and life insurance — so a major diagnosis doesn’t automatically turn into a financial crisis.
Critical illness insurance is a supplement — not a replacement — for major medical coverage. It’s designed to help with the real-world costs that appear outside the hospital bill when a serious diagnosis happens.
When a covered condition is diagnosed and any waiting period is met, the insurer pays a lump-sum benefit directly to you. You decide where it goes: deductibles and coinsurance, rent or mortgage, childcare, travel to a specialist, or simply replacing a partner’s income while they support your recovery.
Modern critical illness plans are usually filed as limited-benefit or specified disease coverage. They list exactly which conditions are covered and under what circumstances. They are not major medical plans and do not satisfy Affordable Care Act minimum essential coverage — they sit on top of your health insurance.
Coverage can be bought as an individual policy, added for a spouse or children, or offered as a voluntary benefit through an employer or association. Group plans often feature guaranteed-issue enrollment windows, while individually underwritten policies typically rely on age-based pricing and a short health questionnaire.
Most carriers use streamlined underwriting but still apply waiting periods and pre-existing condition rules. Conditions diagnosed or treated shortly before coverage starts may be limited or excluded for a set time. Part of our role is to walk you through each carrier’s definitions, lookback periods, and benefit triggers in plain language before you enroll.
While each insurer has its own policy forms, most critical illness plans share a core structure focused on high-impact conditions and lump-sum benefits that can be deployed quickly.
| Feature | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Lump-sum benefit | Pays a single cash amount after a covered diagnosis (for example, cancer, heart attack, or stroke). | Gives you immediate financial flexibility to cover medical and non-medical expenses without waiting on multiple claims. |
| Covered-condition schedule | Lists the illnesses, procedures, and stages that qualify for a benefit. | Helps you see exactly what’s covered — and what is not — so there are fewer surprises at claim time. |
| Wellness/screening benefits | Provides a small annual payment for specified preventive tests. | Encourages early detection and can offset part of your annual premium if you use the benefit every year. |
| Recurrence & multiple condition benefits | Allows additional payouts if a covered illness returns or if a different covered condition occurs. | Recognizes that serious illnesses can be complex, with more than one event or diagnosis over time. |
| Family coverage options | Lets you add a spouse/partner and dependent children for extra premium. | Creates a household-level safety net so one person’s diagnosis doesn’t destabilize everyone’s finances. |
We review these details across carriers so you understand where each plan is strong, and where it has tighter limitations.
We rarely recommend critical illness insurance in isolation. Instead, we look at how it works alongside your income protection and long-term family plan.
Because we’re independent, we can mix carriers and product types — critical illness, disability, and life — to fit your risk profile and budget instead of forcing everything into a single company’s product line.
Offering critical illness coverage as a voluntary benefit can add meaningful financial protection for your team without blowing up your benefit budget.
We can coordinate critical illness offerings with accident, hospital indemnity, and disability plans as part of a broader voluntary benefits package.
Blake Insurance Group provides critical illness insurance guidance and quotes across a multi-state footprint. You get one independent agency that understands how products and regulations differ by state, instead of starting from scratch every time you move or expand.
| State | Example metros | How we help |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona (AZ) | Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Glendale | Coordinate critical illness benefits with high-deductible health plans and income protection for desert lifestyles and seasonal workers. |
| Alabama (AL) | Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery | Design coverage to protect families from the financial impact of cancer and cardiac events. |
| Texas (TX) | Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio | Blend worksite benefits and individual policies for energy, tech, and small-business clients. |
| California (CA) | Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area | Layer critical illness coverage with employer health benefits in high-cost-of-living markets. |
| New York (NY) | New York City, Long Island, upstate metros | Help professionals and families manage out-of-pocket risk in complex medical and cost environments. |
| Ohio (OH) | Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati | Protect manufacturing, healthcare, and service-sector households from major diagnosis shocks. |
| Florida (FL) | Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville | Support working families, retirees, and self-employed clients with supplemental protection. |
| North Carolina (NC) | Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro | Align critical illness, disability, and life insurance for growing families and professionals. |
| Virginia (VA) | Richmond, Virginia Beach, Northern Virginia | Coordinate coverage for federal, contractor, and private-sector employees. |
| Georgia (GA) | Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta | Support employers and individuals balancing budget, benefits, and income protection. |
| Oklahoma (OK) | Oklahoma City, Tulsa | Work with energy, agriculture, and service industries on layered protection strategies. |
| New Mexico (NM) | Albuquerque, Santa Fe | Provide supplemental coverage options for mixed employer and individual health markets. |
| Iowa (IA) | Des Moines, Cedar Rapids | Help families and small businesses add critical illness to traditional health and life plans. |
| Kansas (KS) | Wichita, Kansas City metro | Support main-street businesses and households with practical benefit designs. |
| Michigan (MI) | Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor | Protect income and savings for manufacturing, healthcare, and education workers. |
| Nebraska (NE) | Omaha, Lincoln | Coordinate critical illness, disability, and life coverage for families and farmers alike. |
| South Carolina (SC) | Columbia, Charleston, Greenville | Support tourism, manufacturing, and service-sector clients with supplemental protection. |
| South Dakota (SD) | Sioux Falls, Rapid City | Help rural and small-metro households plan for big medical events and travel for care. |
| West Virginia (WV) | Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown | Design strategies for families balancing local healthcare access and household budgets. |
Licensed insurance producer (NPR/NPN 16944666). Product availability, underwriting rules, and benefit designs vary by carrier and state.
We start with your goals and constraints: current health coverage, budget, income, savings, and any past medical history that might affect underwriting. Then we compare multiple carriers’ covered conditions, benefit options, recurrence rules, and pricing. Our role is to narrow the field to a few strong fits and explain the tradeoffs in plain language before you decide.
Yes — in fact, the two often work best together. Disability insurance helps replace your paycheck if you can’t work, while critical illness insurance provides a lump-sum payment you can use immediately at diagnosis. We look at both policies side by side to avoid overlaps and gaps and to keep the combined premium manageable.
No. As an independent agency, we work with multiple insurers. That allows us to compare their critical illness and specified disease products — benefit structures, covered conditions, pricing, and underwriting rules — and recommend the one that fits your situation instead of forcing a single company’s product.
In many cases, yes. Depending on the carrier and your state, we can help set up voluntary critical illness benefits where employees choose coverage and pay some or all of the premium. We’ll walk you through eligibility, minimum participation rules, and how critical illness fits with your existing group health and disability offerings.
To get started, you’ll generally need basic details such as age, ZIP code, tobacco status, who needs coverage (you, spouse/partner, children), and a target benefit amount. For employer and association groups, we may also ask about group size, industry, and current benefit offerings. From there, we can generate quotes and refine options together.
Blake Insurance Group LLC is an independent insurance agency. We represent multiple insurers and products, including limited-benefit critical illness and specified disease plans, disability insurance, and other supplemental health coverage. Product availability, underwriting, and benefits vary by carrier and state and are subject to the terms of the actual policy and applicable regulations.
Critical illness and specified disease insurance are supplements to comprehensive health coverage and are not major medical, minimum essential coverage, or Medicare supplement policies. All trademarks and service marks remain the property of their respective owners. Licensed insurance producer (NPR/NPN 16944666).
