Critical Illness vs Permanent Health Insurance

gataylor

Hi,

I'm lost in the sea of insurance and I'm hoping someone out there can help me find my way.

I previously had a Personal Accident & Illness policy, but that insurer will no longer cover me because I live in Northern Ireland (it was part of a policy for computer contractors and the insurer no longer offers that policy in Northern Ireland for some reason).

I'm looking for a way of replacing it (and maybe improving on it).

I'm a freelance programmer, the sole employee of my own company, so if I can't work there's no money coming in. I'd like to be covered if something bad happens, so that money continues to come in while I'm sick and so that if anything stops me doing my work I'm covered.

That said, I'm not clear on the difference between critical illness cover and permanent health insurance so I'm not sure what is appropriate for me. (I've looked for an article on this site on permanent health insurance but I couldn't find one.)

I'll also be looking for a level term life assurance policy too, so that my family will have a payout if the worst happens. I don't know if that has any impact here though.

For personal accident insurance, Nationwide seem to have a useful policy:
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/insurance/personal_accident/summary.htm

(Edit: some personal details snipped since the thread has ended.)

So, should I look into Critical Illness cover, or Permanent Health cover? Or would either suit me?

Many thanks,

Geoff

dunstonh

For personal accident insurance, Nationwide seem to have a useful policy:
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/insuranc...nt/summary.htm

These plans are known generically as personal accident plans. A bit of an in joke in the industry is that the initials of this plan tells you exactly what it is - PAP. Complete and utter PAP.

You really need to see an IFA. Otherwise you are just going to pay over the odds. You are considering level term when pension term is likely to be better. Your knowledge on the various income related areas of protection is weak. That is nothing to be ashamed of as but the consequences of getting it wrong and then having a claimable event are enormous.

PHI is a bit of a minefield with most internet quote portals not issuing quotes or limiting themselves to only general insurance PHIs and not designated investment class PHIs. You have the cheap and not very cheerful budget plans which are a complete waste of money and then you have some with some very daft qualifying rules on how ill you really are.

Personally, I rate PHI above CI in the list of priorities (as do most advisers)

gataylor

dunstonh wrote:

You are considering level term when pension term is likely to be better.

Yeah - I learned the difference before I posted, I guess I'm just used to the old, familiar term.

dunstonh wrote:

You really need to see an IFA. <snip> Your knowledge on the various income related areas of protection is weak. That is nothing to be ashamed of as but the consequences of getting it wrong and then having a claimable event are enormous.

Yes, but I'm not happy about going to an IFA just yet. I haven't had great experiences with financial advice in the past, so I'd be more comfortable if I knew a bit more about what they're likely to recommend (and a rough idea of costs) before going to one. It'll save their time too, since I'll be more up to speed on what they're talking about.

I'm not against IFAs on principle, honest.

Geoff