To ask for your views on critical illness cover

[Bearbehind]

I'm naturally quite a risk adverse person so if I can insure against something I generally will however critical illness cover is such a lot of money (particularly if you smoke) that it seems the chances of it actually paying out in the event of illness are so slim they outweigh the cost of the cover.

I mean, if you've ever been to the doctor for an ache or pain, is ist going to bite you on the arse in the event of a claim in that it would be classed as an existing condition, even if it wasn't?

I used to work for L&G - re medical disclosures, a get out clause for the customer to pretty much guarantee pay out is to write 'please contact my GP for my full medical history' on the form, then if the insurance company does not get a full medical report from your GP and you have to make a claim then can not refuse payment on the basis of non disclosure.

Re smoking, is it on record with the GP that your DH smokes? If so tell him to change his smoking status to non smoker ASAP, this will dramatically reduce the premium. IIRC you have to be a non smoker for a year? but the saliva test they may send you only detects if you have smoked within the past few weeks.

unlucky83 I think taking out a policy you have to believe that unfortunately bad things can happen. I find it bizarre that people insure their house, car, holiday, hamster but go rigid over insuring their ability to earn.

I took my policies out when I was very skint but my children were very small, this risk of a illness would have meant us losing everything. If you are responsible enough to think you can afford a mortgage then protection should be integral to that.

You also have to factor in your income vs out goings, the generosity or meaness of your emp.oyers in terms of sick pay, your assets and how much of your current lifestyle you could change if you had to, etc.,etc.

little that is fair enough - in that situation I would be tempted to get it...it really does depend on your circumstances.
I don't insure everything that moves ...think maybe we are too well insured for some things and it gets taken advantage of...
I wouldn't get pet insurance for instance... (also interesting enough when my cat did need a major operation the vet asked me if I had insurance - I didn't, it cost me less than £500. I sat in the waiting room next to a pet insurance poster telling me it would cost 4 or 5 times that...I guess maybe that is what the insurance company would have paid out...)
Car insurance (I do have!) but when DP had an accident a few years ago the cost of getting it fixed on his insurance was £600 -he had a £200 excess. A local garage did a fantastic job for £150 - less than his excess. When he had another one recently (my car insurance is subsidising his!) collection guy said it is an insurance write off -but might be worth you buying it off them and getting it fixed...
Same with house insurance. Had never claimed for years then had a water leak that caused part of the ceiling to collapse and room needed redecorating - both quotes for a really basic job were £900 ish. Whilst the decorator was there I mentioned I wouldn't mind getting my stairs redecorated - he quoted me £450 - and it was a much much bigger job.
Same goes for extended warranties, boiler insurance etc etc...weigh it up and see if it is really worth it...

We stopped our critical illness cover a few years ago, it was expensive, we were young and fit, had no need for it etc.
Then dh had a stroke. He needed a few months off work which meant a large reduction in pay, I couldn't go out and get a job as dh wasn't fit enough to look after the dc and my pay wouldn't have covered childcare.
I now have critical illness cover, no-one will touch dh with a barge pole.
We both regret cancelling it because at a very stressful time anyway, we could have done without the added worry of finances.

I pay 39 a month and fine with that but a friend pays 130 a month - does anyone know if you take out a policy then a few years later get diagnosed with an illness (type 2 diabetes) should you tell the insurer? This friend already pays more due to other factors but got this diagnosis since taking out cover.

I would buy income protection rather than critical illness. I worked for an insurance company until recently and the vast majority of claims are paid out. The situations where we didn't pay out tended to be (for eg) someone who was claiming to have a bad back, but who refused to see any doctors about it.

We had critical illness cover on DH - self employed.
It seemed expensive at the time, we almost didn't do it. Then he had a heart attack 8 years ago and it paid up. He's fine now so long as he keeps taking the tablets but it meant I wasn't in a flat panic about money while he was ill and I'm sure the peace of mind helped him to recover.

We took out the policies through a broker who spread it across three insurers. Two paid out immediately - AXA and Standard Life. The third refused - said he hadn't disclosed a family history of heart disease. Our broker had kept photocopies of the original application and so proved them wrong. That one paid out in about 4 months.

Incidentally, our mortgage was an endowment one with the same company that tried to wriggle out of paying the critical illness cover. The endowment policy had already gone belly-up on covering the mortgage but we paid that off with the critical illness money so when the endowment matured we got to keep it all.

I took out life insurance for the full value of the mortgage, and a smaller lump sum amount of critical illness. It would cover wages for a year or so - I figure that would be long enough to downsize the house to something we could afford on one wage or get through a short term crisis.

OP, honestly at that price I don't think I'd do it myself. Do it for yourself, by all means, but not for your husband at that cost! Think what that will cost you for his remaining 11 years in work!

Can you check if your employer offers it as part of flexible benefits? It might be a lot cheaper.

Don't bother - DH was dx with MS two years ago, it's primary which means he just gets worse, no remissions. He can't work anymore, made a claim on his critical illness. ( another MS sufferer had told us that her insurance had paid her mortgage off as she can't work. She's younger than DH and has relapsing remitting MS). We were obviously hopeful - he got a payout of around 17k ( not even close to his annual earnings) and were told that was it because his MS isn't immediately fatal! Never mind that he can't work and it willnprobably shave 10 years off his life. We're REALLY struggling on what I earn and wish we'd just put the insurance payments into a savings account.

But how much was your CIC worth Lara2?

I think income replacement is probably better.

Ours paid out several ten of thousands, when DH had TC. Unfortunately we were young and did not spend the money wisely which I now regret deeply.

My Dh had an income continuance and Critical illness policy through work. This time last year he had a sudden cardiac arrest and will never be allowed work at his job again. The insurance fought us as heart attack was on their list of illnesses but cardiac arrest wasn't. They eventually paid out 20k (policy wasn't huge) after cardiac enzyme result showed similar results as having a heart attack. Also they will only pay the income continuance for 18mths (basic pay less illness benefit) as he had his arrest before he was 50. After 50 it would pay till retirement.

I get mine through work for me and DP, but we've not had to answer any questions at all - although I've claimed on the normal private medical for a very expensive therapy course plus neurology. I wasn't asked anything then either, but I know if you tell them you have a pre-existing for the PMI they cut you off.

It's with AXA, so does that mean they'd map the claims I made against anything critical to try and get out of paying?

Lara2 did you complain formally regarding the plan? I would say your case is exception rather than the norm sorry