For the love of anything Holy, PLEASE get yourself some good critical illness insurance

Goodness, I’m sorry. I hope you are both own the mend soon.

Critical illness cover can be very useful but prohibitively expensive the older you get. We still have it but it pays off portion of the mortgage, was too expensive at our ages to get the whole thing covered. We have good sick pay though.

It's important to know what your job would cover before you decide what to do re sick pay e.g. some public sector jobs will give 6 months on full pay, 6 months on half pay + state sick pay. This means that your premiums will be greatly reduced compared to having the policy kick in straight away. The definition for eligibility is crucial. You need 'unable to do your own job' not any job. CRITICAL illness often is defined as unlikely to survive 6months and may give a lump sum or not. The younger you take out policy the cheaper it is. If providing a tax free income if some one dies say until the youngest child is 21 is relatively cheap in comparison to a policy for a large lump sum. Ditto a policy to pay off the repayment mortgage as the sum needed will be reducing progressively. You need specialist advice from an IFA (Independent Financial Adviser) not one linked to your bank e.g. as they will only be able to recommend their own policies.

Wish we could get it but I haven’t come across any that will cover someone with type 1 diabetes

We had critical illness cover and when my DH was diagnosed with cancer it paid off our mortgage. He also had life insurance for 8x his salary and as a result following his death I’m financially secure for life. We paid about £70 a month

I’m really sorry to hear you are going through this. I’m glad you don’t have the additional burden of finances to worry about and can focus on treatment and recovery x

Totally agree! We had been paying it since we bought first house 25yrs ago, hadn’t thought about it really…then I was diagnosed with bladder cancer, almost a year off work and it has been an absolute godsend…soo grateful for it, and it would have stopped in less than 6 months anyway, when I reached 50.

I bought my first house at age 22 and due to previous health issues was unable to get affordable critical health insurance
Good luck with both your treatments though

Single, no kids and no partner.

I pay £8 a month to pay off my 175k mortgage plus another 75k cash if I died. I took it out aged 24 with my first mortgage. Employer pays death in service x4 my salary which I think is fairly standard. No one will be screwed on my account if I went.

That's only death though, I don't have any critical illness or income protection. Critical illness I would move finances about to free up a lump sum (sell house, downsize, access inheritances early by parents freeing up assets etc)

and income protection - I'm 30 years off retirement age and to have my salary paid every year between now and then would amount to almost £2m over the term!! No one will insure for that. I'm not a massively high earner, I'm just a long way off retirement.

My mum pointed out that they'd wriggle out paying salary thing anyway - they'd put it in T&Cs to get ANY job at any pay, and probably anyWHERE, not necessarily the same as I currently have.

Exactly. I have had a serious op, everything fine now, but can't get critical illness cover. It gave me a bit of anxiety tbh as the medical consultants say everything is fixed but the insurance co think I'm too likely to die / get seriously ill to take my money.

Sorry to hear your news, OP, and hope your path is a positive one.

No, that's half my mortgage and two ish years of my net salary.

@Kuretake that's what I don't get, plus policies often don't cover certain illnesses. And 200k wouldn't clear my mortgage or pay my salary for 20 yrs.

I just ran a quote and as a 45 year old healthy non-smoker cheapest I can find is £123 a month just for me for £200k pay out on death or diagnosis.

Great for those eligible for it. Until they stop excluding people with my diagnosis however it is useless to me. Also the quotes for healthy adults that DH and other friends got in the past couple of years were closer to £140 a month than £60 a month so I’m a bit 🧐 about the numbers you’ve posted OP. Also what a terribly unfortunate coincidence that you both got dx with cancer in the same month and how lucky that your very cheap insurance paid out so quickly. Also glad you’re so optimistic of your future prognosis. Incredible really.

I second your statement OP. We took out critical illness and life insurance policies with our mortgage. DH was diagnosed with cancer in 2019 aged 54. We claimed on the critical illness policy and got a £50k payout. When he died last year, aged just 59, the life policy paid off the remaining £220k of our mortgage (we had extended it when we built a large extension). It can be hard making those monthly payments, but we never know what's round the corner health wise. I wish you and your DH well with your cancer treatments.

I'm really sorry for both your diagnoses, wishing you all the best. We have critical illness cover as part of our Life Insurance. We took it out after discovering we needed IVF , as it made it us realise you never really know what is going to happen in life.

sorry to hear about your and your husbands cancer diagnosis.

I agree wholeheartedly. We have not had to use ours but it’s costs us £140 a month and we have a family policy at £60 per month. Expensive but I couldn’t cope with the worry of not having it.

we have prioritised it over everything else except the mortgage and house insurance and continued to pay it through 4 maternity leaves which has been tough

One of my cousins had cancer in her 20s & a friend had a stroke & they can't even get life insurance, well they can for hundreds of pounds a month.

Totally agree OP, my husband works in the industry and is always saying that he wishes people were better informed young to get the best cover & start paying. The younger you are, less likely to have any pre-existing conditions, the better you can get for cheaper- it does get more limited & expensive as you get older and issues crop up but always worth a chat with a protection consultant/adviser to see if there is a good policy for you.

It’s one of those things that for a lot of people you just can’t afford not to have.

Wishing you all the best with your respective treatments.

Best of luck for your treatment. I went for income protection instead of critical illness. It’s nothing like as generous but is also a bit cheaper, and it means I will have an income if I can’t work for a time. Might be worth looking at if CI not an option.

Same question - my quotes have been way higher! I pay £50 a month just to cover the mortgage if DH or I died.

And that was with a previous diagnosis of cancer?

£60 a month has given you enough coverage to clear your mortgage, pay 20 years of salary & potential treatment. Who are you with @CornbreadCooking?

I didnt know that this was a thing, OP. Thank you for influencing me.

I am sorry about your health diagnoses, I wish you and your husband well ❤️