Critical illness insurance

MelissaaaGodawela

Hi, 
I would like some advice please. 

My husband and I have just come out of our life and critical insurance combined. We have been given a really good quote for life insurance which we have accepted. 

We are now looking for critical illness insurance, my bmi is high and so there doesn't seem to be my support with getting one. Is critical illness required? 

I am unsure if it is required. I am 35 and my husband is 40, we are both well (health wise). 

Thank you. 

dunstonh

 Is critical illness required?

There are no laws saying you should have it.

Statistically, you are more likely to claim on the CIC side than you are on the life assurance side.    Although PHI (permanent health insurance) is usually the better option overall.

My husband and I have just come out of our life and critical insurance combined. We have been given a really good quote for life insurance which we have accepted. 

That is probably not a good idea.   You shouldn't cancel existing plans until you have the new plans in place.   Sods law is that if something is going to happen, it will happen in between cancelling the old one and getting a new one.

Plus, a quote is not the final price.  It is the price prior to underwriting.  If you have BMI then there is a possibility that the life assurance quote you have will increase after underwriting.

Plus, if you intend to get CIC, you are better off doing this at the same time as life assurance as a combined policy is usually cheaper.   Sometimes adding life assurance onto CIC plans ends up costing nothing or just pennies.

Weighty1

MelissaaaGodawela said:

We are now looking for critical illness insurance, my bmi is high and so there doesn't seem to be my support with getting one. Is critical illness required? 

What is your BMI?

Different insurers have a difference tolerance to those with a higher bmi so whilst some may not cover you, others may.  Depending on how high it is you could be lookking at the premiums increasing by up to 150% so a £50/month premium would suddenly become £125.

Income Protection (PHI as Dunstonh refers to above) can sometimes be easier to arrange than critical illness cover as the companies who are most tolerant of a higher bmi don't always offer critical illness cover but do offer long-term income protection.  In my opinion, long-term income protection is also a better product since you can claim for anything which causes incapacity plus there's no limit on how long you can claim for and therefore whereas a lump sum critical illness payment may run out, the income would just keep going and going until you reach retirement age (provided you take the right type of income protection).

Sandtree

If you are considering CI, not my fav product, then its sensible to hold off on the Life cover as many CI covers include Life at no extra cost and those that dont it tends to be token in comparison to stand alone 

Personally I prefer PHI too however there are circumstances where CI can be a helpful when PHI isn't... if your earnings are vastly unequal and the lower earner is the one that becomes ill then a large lump sum that CI pays out may allow the higher earner to take unpaid leave or change their working arrangements to spend more time with them. PHI on the other hand would just replace the missing salary and so wouldn't allow such things. 

Obviously if the tables are reversed then the lost high income may not be covered for many years by the CI payment whereas the PHI would continue to pay the salary until the agreed date (ie your planned retirement date)