Critical Illness Insurance Yes or No?

[BLUEYESTU]

My girlfriend and I are buying our first home together and after years of renting following my divorce I’m faced with all the insurance decisions to make.
I originally thought that critical illness cover was a great idea - apx 25 years ago my sister got a melanoma and was one of the first people to get a substantial payout.
However over the years insurance companies have removed a lot of qualifying illnesses and from my time working in oncology I saw just how hard they make it for people to get payouts, even those with potentially fatal cancers.
I’m 54 with a lot of mental health issues in my past and my dad died from Parkinson’s disease; so will I be wasting money taking out critical illness cover and should I just stick to the standard death cover? The price difference is nearly £100 so it’s a lot to find every month.
Any advice appreciated Blues.

 

[flook]

All depends upon your personal circumstances, if you are unable to work, can you afford the mortgage? Does your job pay you work or play?. Personally I worked freelance, so critical illness cover was a necessity. Fortunately never needed it but money well spent in terms of peace of mind.

 

[BLUEYESTU]

All depends upon your personal circumstances, if you are unable to work, can you afford the mortgage? Does your job pay you work or play?. Personally I worked freelance, so critical illness cover was a necessity. Fortunately never needed it but money well spent in terms of peace of mind.

I’m not going to be the major wage earner - the girlfriend is on a lot more than me. Not sure if we could manage without my wage, probably not, but I’m just a bit dubious with insurance companies especially after the farce I went through after my dads death and them refusing to pay for a while.

 

[Double R]

I took out a new, slightly cheaper cover out about 12 years ago and about 3 months later was diagnosed with testicular cancer so got pretty much a full, life changing payout. So needless to say it was well worth it for me. Lloyds insurance if I remember corectly. No hassle, payed up within 2 months.
Not even sure if TC is covered anymore since the survival rate is very high. Reading up about critical illness insurance afterwards, I learnt that cheaper is NOT better. Cheaper insurance may not cover everything that the dearer one does. For example a dearer insurance will pay out if you lose an arm, where as a cheap insurance may only pay if you lose both.