Is it worth having unemployment, sickness and accident insurance when you've worked somewhere 2+year

ceb1995

my husband has unemployment, accident and sickness cover which covers our mortgage in case of any of those 3 situations for a year in most cases, however if he was to be made redundant now he would be entitled to a small payout. Baring in mind I'm on maternity leave and pay myself, would it be better to switch to just accident and sickness cover but this would then mean a higher payout amount? we have life insurance and critical illness cover so are already covered for anything very serious, it's more about being prepared for something he could recover from but could be long term.

dunstonh

however if he was to be made redundant now he would be entitled to a small payout.

How long would that payment last?   

Baring in mind I'm on maternity leave and pay myself, would it be better to switch to just accident and sickness cover but this would then mean a higher payout amount?

The only real benefit of an ASU plan is the "U" - unemployment.  If you only wanted AS, then you would be better off with a permenant health insurance policy.  

we have life insurance and critical illness cover so are already covered for anything very serious,

Depends on what you mean by serious.    You are not covered for long term illness and not having an income for the long term is pretty serious.

tacpot12

It is worth it, providing the premiums are affordable.

State benefits are not as generous as they used to be, and will not pay the mortgage if he cannot work. If he was injured and could not work again, the disability benefits that would be payable are a useful supplement to your income, but disabled people usually have higher living costs, so the disability benefits won't generally cover these costs and the mortgage. Except in the most clear cut of cases, the DWP will generally refuse disability benefits until you appeal via court which usually takes 12+ months.

Having a commercial insurance policy will give you a useful additional safety net. If you have problems claiming, you can refer the case to the Insurance Ombudsman and you have the benefit of a contract you can refer to. Claiming from the DWP is a whole different ball-game.

csgohan4

unemployment insurance is only good as long as the insurers want to provide cover, alot of providers have withdrawn their products and one cannot renew either

Aretnap

Don't assume that Critical Illness insurance will cover you for "anything very serious". It will generally cover you for a predefined list of conditions - and anything not on the list will not get you a penny. Two of the big things that it will not cover are mental health issues (stress, anxiety, depression) and musculoskeletal disorders (back pain, arthritis etc). Plenty of people are off work for many years with those problems.

Also, the critical illness payout may sound like a lot, but how many years salary does it actually represent? How long could you maintain something like your current lifestyle on it if you or your husband was unable to work long term? Remember that even if it was enough to pay off the mortgage, there are still plenty of bills to pay when the mortgage has gone.

That's why personally I would prioritise permanent health insurance over CI cover. It will pay out a large proportion of your monthly income if you are unable to work through illness, more or less regardless of the nature of the illness, and potentially for many years until retirement age. That's likely to be more valuable than a one-off lump sum. 

ceb1995

dunstonh said:

however if he was to be made redundant now he would be entitled to a small payout.

How long would that payment last?   

Baring in mind I'm on maternity leave and pay myself, would it be better to switch to just accident and sickness cover but this would then mean a higher payout amount?

The only real benefit of an ASU plan is the "U" - unemployment.  If you only wanted AS, then you would be better off with a permenant health insurance policy.  

we have life insurance and critical illness cover so are already covered for anything very serious,

Depends on what you mean by serious.    You are not covered for long term illness and not having an income for the long term is pretty serious.

we have cover for about 20 conditions, cancers, cardiac conditions, Alzheimers, deafness, blindness and paralysis and loss of limbs and a few other neurological conditions and our life insurance covers suicide. His redundancy would just be one initial cash payment from his employer.  
 tacpot12 said:

It is worth it, providing the premiums are affordable.

State benefits are not as generous as they used to be, and will not pay the mortgage if he cannot work. If he was injured and could not work again, the disability benefits that would be payable are a useful supplement to your income, but disabled people usually have higher living costs, so the disability benefits won't generally cover these costs and the mortgage. Except in the most clear cut of cases, the DWP will generally refuse disability benefits until you appeal via court which usually takes 12+ months.

Having a commercial insurance policy will give you a useful additional safety net. If you have problems claiming, you can refer the case to the Insurance Ombudsman and you have the benefit of a contract you can refer to. Claiming from the DWP is a whole different ball-game.

yes I'm very conscious that if disability benefits were even possible that it would be months if we get anything at all so wouldn't feel like it could be a plan B. we can afford the premiums comfortably. 

ceb1995

Aretnap said:

Don't assume that Critical Illness insurance will cover you for "anything very serious". It will generally cover you for a predefined list of conditions - and anything not on the list will not get you a penny. Two of the big things that it will not cover are mental health issues (stress, anxiety, depression) and musculoskeletal disorders (back pain, arthritis etc). Plenty of people are off work for many years with those problems.

Also, the critical illness payout may sound like a lot, but how many years salary does it actually represent? How long could you maintain something like your current lifestyle on it if you or your husband was unable to work long term? Remember that even if it was enough to pay off the mortgage, there are still plenty of bills to pay when the mortgage has gone.

That's why personally I would prioritise permanent health insurance over CI cover. It will pay out a large proportion of your monthly income if you are unable to work through illness, more or less regardless of the nature of the illness, and potentially for many years until retirement age. That's likely to be more valuable than a one-off lump sum. 

the critical illness cover, covers all the conditions that have been deaths from in our families and we've got cover for suicide with our life insurance. the critical illness cover payment is a bit over a years salary, however, we could reduce our lifestyle a bit further and sell the car etc if my husband couldn't drive anymore. 

we can't afford full-on health insurance as we've both got controlled asthma symptoms but as we've taken inhalers in the past year it increases the premiums to a lot higher, so the last time I got a quote we were looking at £60+ each a month, unfortunately.
We have health cashback plans so we've got something basic, it covers access to private gp, physios and CBT/standard phone counselling and also stretches to a consultant appointment and a short amount of testing, just can't afford anything further than that currently. 

dunstonh

we have cover for about 20 conditions, cancers, cardiac conditions, Alzheimers, deafness, blindness and paralysis and loss of limbs and a few other neurological conditions and our life insurance covers suicide. His redundancy would just be one initial cash payment from his employer.  

20 conditions is not many and nearly all life assurance covers suicide .

Redundancy pay is fine if the company restructures.  However, if it goes into administration then that gets ripped up.

Sandtree

ceb1995 said:

Aretnap said:

Don't assume that Critical Illness insurance will cover you for "anything very serious". It will generally cover you for a predefined list of conditions - and anything not on the list will not get you a penny. Two of the big things that it will not cover are mental health issues (stress, anxiety, depression) and musculoskeletal disorders (back pain, arthritis etc). Plenty of people are off work for many years with those problems.

Also, the critical illness payout may sound like a lot, but how many years salary does it actually represent? How long could you maintain something like your current lifestyle on it if you or your husband was unable to work long term? Remember that even if it was enough to pay off the mortgage, there are still plenty of bills to pay when the mortgage has gone.

That's why personally I would prioritise permanent health insurance over CI cover. It will pay out a large proportion of your monthly income if you are unable to work through illness, more or less regardless of the nature of the illness, and potentially for many years until retirement age. That's likely to be more valuable than a one-off lump sum. 

the critical illness cover, covers all the conditions that have been deaths from in our families and we've got cover for suicide with our life insurance. the critical illness cover payment is a bit over a years salary, however, we could reduce our lifestyle a bit further and sell the car etc if my husband couldn't drive anymore. 

we can't afford full-on health insurance as we've both got controlled asthma symptoms but as we've taken inhalers in the past year it increases the premiums to a lot higher, so the last time I got a quote we were looking at £60+ each a month, unfortunately.
We have health cashback plans so we've got something basic, it covers access to private gp, physios and CBT/standard phone counselling and also stretches to a consultant appointment and a short amount of testing, just can't afford anything further than that currently. 

Permanent Health Insurance is a form of income protection, the full fat version of the AS part of your ASU policy.  With ASU the policy normally pays up to 12 months, though some go to 24 months, of sickness whereas PHI will continue paying until your retirement age (or whatever age you set when you buy the policy) and unlike Critical Illness it will cover you for any condition (subject to underwriting/pre-existing conditions). The other advantage over ASU is that its underwritten at the point of purchase so you know exactly what is and isnt covered whereas with ASU your medical history is only taken at point of claim and so there is always some level of uncertainty as to if an illness will be covered or not. PHI however doesnt cover unemployment.

Private Medical Insurance is a total different thing