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

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A few years ago we signed up for really good critical illness cover, it’s been a bit of a drag paying for it some months but we kept it going because ‘who knows what the future holds’ DH and I have both been diagnosed with cancer this month and because we have critical illness cover for us both we are eligible for ; lump sum to pay off the mortgage, 2 lump sums (1 each for our respective cancers) and in 6 months when the sick pay runs out our cover will continue to pay the equivalent of our salaries up until retirement age if one or both of us cannot return to work. So 20 years of full salary paid up until pension eligibility. It also covered diagnosis and will pay for potential medical treatment in America if dh’s cancer requires proton beam and we can’t get into the nhs quick enough. It will pay for me to go with him and stay in a hotel whilst he recovers.

I am SO glad we kept the illness cover and I urge you please to look into it. I stumbled on a woman on TikTok who was talking about how important insurance is so I decided to be an adult and get some, and I am so glad I did.

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’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

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

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

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.

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.