Critical Illness - Skandia or Bupa??

mikeyboy

After looking at upteen different critical illness policies I have come to the conclusion that I want to get the 'best' / most comprehensive policy available and take out guaranteed rates whilst still young/ish!

I still need to take out a critical illness policy and have got my choice of provider down to 2... Bupa or Skandia. There is very little difference in premiums between the two.

Does anyone have any opinions as to which offers the most comprehensive/flexible cover??

mikeyboy

**bumpety bump**

shaunrc

Hi Mikey

The BUPA policy has a good reputation for its coverage of cancer in terms of conditions covered and for what types the pay out on. Many consider it to be the best in this regard and if someone was asking me for quality of their cover rather than price they are a company I would recommend....

I know Skandia less well but would give BUPA a positive recommendation.

somewhatnew

The skandia policy provides good cover though not for as many conditions as the BUPA policy. In all honesty though sometimes it is a bit of a numbers game... BUPA cover for a very specific type of diabeties that only 3 people (according to our BUPA rep) claimed on last year (but they were able to bump up their 'what we cover' numbers) to make the policy more attractive, however that is not to say it is not good cover.

As a man, between the two of them I personally go for the BUPA policy. BUPA recently introduced a low-grade prostate cancer cover. Whilst most companies would expect a Gleason score of at least 6 to 8 (Gleason is the measurement for prostate cancer) before a payout ensues, BUPA will give a partial payout (£12,500 I think) for a lower grade prostate cancer.

Worth thinking about given prostate cancer is the most common cancer for men.

The_silver_surfer

mikeyboy wrote: »

After looking at upteen different critical illness policies I have come to the conclusion that I want to get the 'best' / most comprehensive policy available and take out guaranteed rates whilst still young/ish!

I still need to take out a critical illness policy and have got my choice of provider down to 2... Bupa or Skandia. There is very little difference in premiums between the two.

Does anyone have any opinions as to which offers the most comprehensive/flexible cover??

I like Bupa alot , good company, good service, a bit on the expensive side with some of their policies and i have no experience of skandia so can't really comment with them either way.

One of the best ways to measure just how comprehensive a critical illness policy is. Is to ask how many standard conditions they cover. Most critical illness providers cover 33-38 standard conditions.

Pruprotect (Owned by Prudential) cover 93 on their primary policy and 154 on their comprehensive policy . These facts speak for themselves really. Pruprotect also offer excellent service and are good at paying out.

With Pruprotect its called serious illness cover as they cover many more conditions and not all are critical and you can get £10K for losing a finger for example.

They work out less than £5 per month more than the cheapest quote i could find. So for me it was a bit of a no brainer who to opt for. Plus because i'm a Pruhealth member and get to platinum every year my premiums come down around 2% every year (this is compounded).

I am currently 33 years old and paying pruprotect £33 monthly for 100k serious illness cover and this goes down around 2% each year.

OshayAway

Bupa are more comprehensive in terms of offering more conditions and having more ABI+ conditions than Skandia thus making it more likely to pay out.

mikeyboy

The Pru-Protect comprehensive cover looks very good. I am now torn between Bupa and Prup-Protect.

Does anyone have any opinions on which is best? best definitions?

Also, regarding term of cover. I am wanting to lock-in gheaper uaranteed rates whilst young(ish) , so I do not want to tie the cover to a mortgage. Would it be a reasonable idea to put cover in place to say age 60 by which time it is highly likely financially any impact a critical illness would have should be minimal.

Thoughts welcome as always!

Wutang_2

mikeyboy wrote: »

The Pru-Protect comprehensive cover looks very good. I am now torn between Bupa and Prup-Protect.

Does anyone have any opinions on which is best? best definitions?

Can you not read the key features?

mikeyboy

Can you not resist the urge to be so rude?

Wutang_2

mikeyboy wrote: »

Can you not resist the urge to be so rude?

Rarely - sorry

THE_JUDGE

I sell them for a living and i am with Pruprotect Primary myself.

Pru protect cover 94 standard conditions on Primary and 154 standard conditions on their comprehensive cover.

Bupa (who i rate as the best of the rest by the way) cover 37 standard conditions. Most cover around 33-34. Aviva only 26 standard conditions.

The facts speak for themselves really and the premiums are around about the same when you compare Bupa with the Pruprotect primary. The comprehensive is more, but then it covers so much more too.