Critical Illness Insurance for Those Over 60

If you are in your 60s and you are seriously thinking of getting a critical illness policy, this may not be the best option for you!

Maximum Age Limits of Policies:

Firstly, there are only a couple of critical illness insurers who allow a maximum age limit at the start of their policy which is more than 60 years of age (see table above). Other insurers only accept policy applications of those aged 59 and below.

On top of this, the premiums requested for the critical illness policy could be extremely high and therefore prohibitive.

A further factor is that there may be some critical conditions that are covered just until the age of 60. That means that, if you are over 60 when you apply, cover for those conditions may notbe available to you

Some of the diseases that are sometimes payable only if they are contracted or diagnosed before the age of 60

• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Motor Neurone Disease
• Parkinson’s Disease

However, there are some insurance providers that provide an improved definition (ABI+ instead of ABI) that may allow claims to be paid regardless of your age when they onset

How does your age affect total and permanent disability coverage for critical illness cover?

The manner in which “ Total and Permanent Disability” is defined and considered could also be different for people in later life

For example, in the critical illness cover provided by Aegon, persons aged 60 and above will be evaluated on their inability to carry out pre-defined tasks – known as  “Activities of Daily Living”. This means that Total and Permanent Disability benefit would only be paid if the claimant is not able to successfully undertake = three of the “activities of daily living” for a continuous period of six months.

The activities of daily living include:

• Washing
• Dressing
• Feeding
• Toileting
• Mobility

Buying Critical Illness Insurance at an Early Age

Later Life – at the age of 60 and above  – can be a difficult time people are generally more prone to experience the onset of a critical illness. By the time this happens, it may already be too late (and probably financially impractical) to try getting a brand new critical illness policy.

Critical Illness Prevalence in the Elderly

• Cancer. Incidence rates are strongly related to age for all cancers combined, with the highest incidence rates being in older people. In the UK in 2016-2018, on average each year more than a third (36%) of new cases were in people aged 75 and over.[1-4]
  Age-specific incidence rates rise steeply from around age 55-59. The highest rates are in the 85 to 89 age group for females and males. The most prevalent cancers are cancers of the prostate, breast, lung, bowel and uterus. ( Cancer Research UK )

• Cerebrovascular disease. Incidence rates of CVD for those aged 64 and above are at 31%.* In 2017, the incidence rate of stroke in the United Kingdom was higher among than women across all the age groups. In this year, there were approximately 1,386 strokes per 100,000 men aged over 75 years, compared to a rate of 1276 in women in this age group.
• Coronary heart disease. Incidence rates for those aged 64 and above are at 24%. 7.6miilion people are living with heart and circulatory diseases : ther are 450 deaths every day from a heart or circulatory disease; there are more than 100,000 hospital admissions each year due to heart attacks; there is 1 stroke every 5 minutes

*Based on UK Office of National Statistics (data for 2010/2011)

When completing an application for critical illness, you must also remember that you need to give full disclosure of any illnesses that you have. This may affect whether the policy is issued or not; it can result in certain critical illnesses being excluded or in the entire policy application being rejected.

When you look at the illnesses included in cover, you will see that a number of them are more common when you are 60 years of age or beyond. It is important therefore, in the light of this, to consider taking out a critical illness policy before attaining the age of 60 and certainly prior to contracting any pre-existing illnesses or condition that might cause the insurer to reject your application or impose  limits on  your coverage.

By doing this you would create the peace of mind of knowing that you would be paid  a lump sum policy benefit upon diagnosis of an included critical illness

Some Reasons to Consider Critical Illness Cover

Regardless of the issues surrounding high policy premiums and medical or health condition exclusions, you should still think about getting critical illness cover for the following reasons:

• Modern medical innovations and improving healthcare have caused a higher survival rate for many critical illnesses –  even for the over-60’s. Some of the medical treatments accompanying survival have very high costs. As an example, diagnosis of a chronic disease such as cancer (which as 10 times more likely for over-60’s) can increase the cost of medical treatment expenses to £40,000 or more.
• The lump sum benefit paid by a critical illness protection plan can help to minimise risks of bankruptcy or foreclosure on an unpaid mortgage. The financial outcomes of a serious illness – and possibly inability to carry on working or being forced too work reduced hours – can have  serious repercussions to continuing financial stability for senior person and can often  place properties and savings in jeopardy
• Private and state pensions and any other retirement benefits may not be sufficient  to cover medical costs and a post-diagnosis lifestyle