Insurance cover incase you get cancer - good idea?

Welshlassie

I recently had a call offering me Well Woman Insurance for all types of female cancer. I had heard that they calls were going round and my initial thoughts were that this is disgusting as it is praying on peoples (woman's) worst fears. Having told the operator my thoughts on this (she did ask) I began to wonder after I had hung up whether I was missing something that makes these a good idea.

I get Bupa cover from work which would cover anything like this and our sick policy is very good so I have no intention of taking this policy out at the moment, but was wondering what other people thoughts on these types of policy are.

lisyloo

I get Bupa cover from work which would cover anything like this and our sick policy is very good so I have no intention of taking this policy out at the moment, but was wondering what other people thoughts on these types of policy are.

You are talking about several different types of insurance here so I think it's important to be clear.

> BUPA provides private medical insurance which pays for healthcare.
> Your employers sick pay scheme will usually cover your income for a period (for example 6 months) but after that they won't pay your salary.
> Permanent Health Insurance (PHI) will give you an income until you retire (usually starting after your employers scheme ends). This is paid if you cannot work i.e. for almost all illnesses (maybe a few exclusions).
> Critical illness pays a lump sum for a limited list of illnesses. This is useful for modifiying your home or going on a round-the-world cruise before you die but will not provide you with any on-going income. Will also not pay out if you get something that isn't on the list of critical illnesses.

IMO PHI is very useful because it provides and ongoing income until your pension kicks in.
BUPA is certainly worth having if you can afford it.
Critical illness is a bit of a luxury in my opinion.

I don't know which category the "Well Woman" scheme fits into but personally I don't think it's worthwhile because it only covers certain things.

You would be better off either getting a normal BUPA scheme (if it's medical insurance) or PHI (if it's income insurance).
Then you will be covered for ANY illness (excluding pre-exiting conditions or anything they exclude in their terms and conditions).

Welshlassie

lisyloo wrote:

You are talking about several different types of insurance here so I think it's important to be clear.

> BUPA provides private medical insurance which pays for healthcare.
> Your employers sick pay scheme will usually cover your income for a period (for example 6 months) but after that they won't pay your salary.
> Permanent Health Insurance (PHI) will give you an income until you retire (usually starting after your employers scheme ends). This is paid if you cannot work i.e. for almost all illnesses (maybe a few exclusions).
> Critical illness pays a lump sum for a limited list of illnesses. This is useful for modifiying your home or going on a round-the-world cruise before you die but will not provide you with any on-going income. Will also not pay out if you get something that isn't on the list of critical illnesses.

IMO PHI is very useful because it provides and ongoing income until your pension kicks in.
BUPA is certainly worth having if you can afford it.
Critical illness is a bit of a luxury in my opinion.

I don't know which category the "Well Woman" scheme fits into but personally I don't think it's worthwhile because it only covers certain things.

You would be better off either getting a normal BUPA scheme (if it's medical insurance) or PHI (if it's income insurance).
Then you will be covered for ANY illness (excluding pre-exiting conditions or anything they exclude in their terms and conditions).

Sorry I should have explained a bit clearer, what this particular insurance policy was offering was payment of all hospital bills to treat the cancer and some income protection (but not complete).

lisyloo

It's fine if you get that type of cancer but not if you get something else.

Personally I would prefer ALL my medical bills covered and my income covered if I was unable to do my job with ANY illness.

The only people it might be worthwhile for are those with a pre-disposition i.e. bad family history of that type of cancer, but I suspect that they would rule out these kind of people anyway.

For most people I suspect it isn't the best product due to partial coverage but as you say they are playing on people's fears.

Most of use don't know what we are going to get sick from so the only safe thing to do is to get complete cover (or as complete as you can make it as there are usually some exclusions).

airhostess

The Well Woman policy you mention pays back every premuim you ever paid if you don't make a claim before the policy ends. So in my opinion it's a great deal. Cover if you need it, and your money back if you don't. OK your money will be slightly worn down by inflation, but if you keep up with your premiums then it's a fab deal.

Just hoping AIG doesn't go bust taking all the money with it!

dunstonh

The Well Woman policy you mention pays back every premuim you ever paid if you don't make a claim before the policy ends. So in my opinion it's a great deal. Cover if you need it, and your money back if you don't. OK your money will be slightly worn down by inflation, but if you keep up with your premiums then it's a fab deal.

So, its an interest free loan to the insurance company.

If you insured yourself for every financial need you wouldnt have anything left to live on. So, you should insurance yourself within your budget for the things that will have the biggest impacts and the most likely things that could happen.

Do you really want to waste some of your limited budget on a policy that has a relatively low chance of paying out? Even if you get your premiums back 20 years later?

airhostess

dunstonh wrote: »

Do you really want to waste some of your limited budget on a policy that has a relatively low chance of paying out? Even if you get your premiums back 20 years later?

That all depends on:

How limited your budget is - if you have lots of money left over at the end of the month and it's easily affordable, why not?
What your risks are of getting cancer - I have a strong family history of cancer and the insurers were still happy to cover

If you get your premiums back 20 years later it's better than nothing!

lisyloo

if you have lots of money left over at the end of the month and it's easily affordable, why not?

There might be better options elsewere from the point of view of cost and/or coverage.
As I've already mentioned I prefer to cover for everything rather than just specific illnesses.
Also for income protection, again I prefer to have one policy for everything (income) rather than mortgage policy, credit card policy etc. It simply makes sense to me that it has to be chepaer overall and better coverage to cover everything.

Another reason is you might have cover elsewhere, for example I have BUPA and PHI so wouldn't need this.

I have a strong family history of cancer and the insurers were still happy to cover

If there is a specific risk then it would be worth considering I agree, but don't forget you could get ill with something else so don't neglect other cover.

On the whole I feel people would be better off with PHI and medical cover for everything (or as much as can be covered by insurance as there are always exclusions).

dunstonh

That all depends on:

How limited your budget is - if you have lots of money left over at the end of the month and it's easily affordable, why not?

No-one covers themselves for the main eventualities as they cant afford to. The more money you have on income, usually the more it costs to protect yourself for loss of it.

By the time you look at Life assurance, PHI, CI, MPPI, building an emergency fund for savings and rainy day and retirement provision thats a good chunk of your money gone. If you have something left over after that then you can look at the nice to haves or the less important things.

A person with a family that is fully protected in all key areas is a rare beast. If you have everything covered though and you think this is worthwhile then go for it. I wouldnt do it an expense of something more likely though.