Income Protection or CRitical Illness for my son

mae · 30 April 2018 at 10:03AM

Hi

My son (age 25) was born with some health issues. I wont go into them here but its not something that stops him working or anything that he visitis the GP with ever he just has a check up with his specialist once per year and has not needed treatment or medication for over 15 years.

Anyway he is not at the age or in a situation where managing risk or life assurance is on his radar. He doesn't have a mortgage or any dependents.

We as his parents are thinking of paying for IP or CI for him, obviously with his knowledge but we would pay the premiums as we want to help him out and also because he was born with health issues we feel is it a (slight) disadvantage.

Anyway my question is which do you think is better income protection or critical illness cover? Anyone have any experience with this?

And also would you go via an IFA or do research and get quotes independently?

Thanks

Browntoa · 30 April 2018 at 10:06AM

You need to look very closely at the exclusions , it may well be that all his existing health conditions are excluded for example which may make it a pointless exercise

mae · 30 April 2018 at 10:17AM

Browntoa wrote: »

You need to look very closely at the exclusions , it may well be that all his existing health conditions are excluded for example which may make it a pointless exercise

Thanks we will do. I thought he could ask for a full print out from the GP and we could maybe take it to a financial adviser and see what the situation is?

BooJewels · 30 April 2018 at 12:30PM

If I could offer one piece of advice, it would be to make sure that whatever you decide, you do everything properly and cover every eventuality you can think of. If it's slightly complicated, go through an independent adviser and declare everything - as you suggested. You don't want an oversight now to trip things up at some point in the future. Get details confirmed in writing - and keep them safe.

We're just waiting on a decision on a critical illness claim and everything seemed very straightforward 9+ years ago when we started the policy but now all sorts of details are tripping it up - we will prevail as we did do everything right and kept all the documents safe, but that doesn't help the stress levels or speed it up any.

Project your mind forward to a worse case scenario and how it might work then.

mae · 30 April 2018 at 12:57PM

BooJewels wrote: »

If I could offer one piece of advice, it would be to make sure that whatever you decide, you do everything properly and cover every eventuality you can think of. If it's slightly complicated, go through an independent adviser and declare everything - as you suggested. You don't want an oversight now to trip things up at some point in the future. Get details confirmed in writing - and keep them safe.

We're just waiting on a decision on a critical illness claim and everything seemed very straightforward 9+ years ago when we started the policy but now all sorts of details are tripping it up - we will prevail as we did do everything right and kept all the documents safe, but that doesn't help the stress levels or speed it up any.

Project your mind forward to a worse case scenario and how it might work then.

Thank you. Yes we will do everything properly which is why I want the company we go with to have a full copy of medical history and then there is no grey area.

I hope you get it sorted. Do you mind me asking what kind of problems/details are causing an issue for you?

BooJewels · 30 April 2018 at 1:47PM

mae wrote: »

I hope you get it sorted. Do you mind me asking what kind of problems/details are causing an issue for you?

Largely stupid, exasperating ones. For example, our GP, thinking it would be useful, sent copies of all 25 letters from the consultant, because it's a slightly complex issue. But for some reason, in the first letter from 2011 he said that my husband (the one making the claim) had 'suffered high blood pressure for many years'. Which is simply not true, we've no idea where he even got that idea from as it was never even discussed. As we'd declared in 2008 that he didn't have high BP, they clearly wanted that clarifying and asked for all my husband's medical records prior to 2009 - which has raised more questions.

ETA: This is the thread I started on the claim, when the same consultant pretty much refused to send in the required paperwork. That has now thankfully been received: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5823232

Financialwizard · 30 April 2018 at 1:59PM

Income Protection provides a monthly benefit from a set deferred period until either retirement or for a set number of years dependent on the policy. The deferred period will depend on how long he receives sick pay for and will need revising should this period ever change as it will not pay out on top of receiving full pay from an employer. It is possible to do staggered if he receives full pay for a period of time, and then half. This will pay out for any sickness or injury that prevents him from working, unless excluded from the policy.

Critical Illness is typically a lump sum payout of a set amount. In his circumstances on a level basis I should imagine. This pays out for any critical illness as defined by the provider. You can get these policies written so that they pay a set amount annually, this is normally referred to as Family Income Benefit, but you do not need to have a family to have the insurance.

Dependent on your son's illness as to whether there will be exclusions or possible outright decline. Your best bet is to see a protection adviser as they will do the leg work with regards to calling pre-underwriting for medical purposes and will be able to get a 'likely outcome'.

Income Protection will need to be paid from the assured's bank account as they will have to pay the benefit to the same account. However you arrange your finances around that is obviously your concern.

I hope this helps.

Weighty1 · 30 April 2018 at 2:33PM

mae wrote: »

Hi

My son (age 25) was born with some health issues. I wont go into them here but its not something that stops him working or anything that he visitis the GP with ever he just has a check up with his specialist once per year and has not needed treatment or medication for over 15 years.

Anyway my question is which do you think is better income protection or critical illness cover? Anyone have any experience with this?

And also would you go via an IFA or do research and get quotes independently?

Thanks

Income protection is generally the more "robust" option for protecting an individual in the event of ill-health as it normally covers almost any incapacity, not just a list of specific conditions which must be of a specified severity, so for this reason I'd look at that first.

You could get quotes independently, however, a quote isn't binding on the insurer so there isn't really much value in getting quotes when the underwritten terms could be substantially different from the standard terms, or even that terms might not be offered. For that reason I'd say your best bet would be speaking to a independent protection specialist, ideally one who is used to arranging cover for clients who have health problems/unusual circumstances. They, if they know their job, should be able to advise you of the best way forward to ensure your son gets the best cover based on his circumstances and health disclosures.

Just be aware, depending on the health problems neither long term income protection nor critical illness cover might be possible. Generally, heart related conditions or kidney related conditions (plus a multitude of other conditions) prevent most plans covering incapacity being arranged in all but the most minor of cases, so just because these health issues don't affect your son from working don't think it'll necessarily be plain sailing in arranging cover.

Income Protection or CRitical Illness for my son

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