What actually decides what you'll pay for critical illness cover
There's no honest price I can give you here — critical illness cover is underwritten around who you specifically are, and I don't know that yet. What this page does instead is set out exactly what an underwriter weighs up, which parts you have a say in, and why the definitions in the policy matter as much as anything on the quote itself.
Once you understand what's actually being assessed, a quote stops being a mystery number and starts being something you can reason about.
What actually drives your price
The factors an insurer actually looks at
Every insurer weighs the same broad set of factors. What you can’t change sets your starting point; what you can change is where you have real control over the outcome.
Your age
FixedAge is one of the starting points for any underwriting decision, reflecting the statistical likelihood of a claim over the life of the policy. It's fixed at the point you apply.
Smoker status
FixedSmokers and non-smokers are underwritten on different terms. It's assessed as things stand today — most insurers will reassess you as a non-smoker after a sustained period free of nicotine.
Health and medical history
FixedYour own and, in some cases, your family's medical history feed directly into how you're assessed. This is usually where the biggest differences between two otherwise similar people come from.
Cover amount
Your choiceHow much you'd want paid out if you were diagnosed with a listed illness — enough to clear a mortgage, take time off, or both — is a decision you make, not something imposed on you.
Term length
Your choiceHow many years the policy runs is your choice, usually set to match a mortgage or the period your family would most need the protection.
How many conditions are covered
Your choiceInsurers vary in how long their list of covered conditions is, and some pay out at an earlier stage of illness than others. Broader cover generally reflects a broader set of scenarios the insurer is taking on.
Want an actual figure?
I can't quote you here — but with a few details about your situation, I can usually get you real critical illness cover figures from real insurers within a day.
Same person, different quotes
Why the same person gets different quotes from different insurers
Critical illness cover is one of the areas where insurers genuinely disagree with each other, both on price and on how they define a claimable diagnosis for the same condition. One insurer might take a more favourable view of something in your medical history than another; one might define early-stage cancer more generously than a competitor. These aren't marketing differences — they come from each insurer's own claims data and their own underwriting philosophy — but the practical effect is that where you land depends on which insurers you actually ask, which is exactly why I compare more than one rather than defaulting to whichever is most familiar.
I compare cover from leading UK insurers.
- Vitality
- Scottish Widows
- Zurich
- Legal & General
- Aviva
- Guardian
- MetLife
- The Exeter
- LV=
- Royal London
Price isn’t the whole story
Why the cheapest policy on paper isn't always the best one
This is the product where definitions matter more than almost anywhere else in protection insurance. Every insurer publishes a definitions document setting out precisely what has to be true for a diagnosis to count as a claim. Two policies can sit at a similar price and cover a similar list of conditions by name, yet one sets a meaningfully higher bar for what actually counts. Choosing the cheapest option without checking the definitions means you won't find out whether that difference matters to you until the day you're relying on it — which is far too late to discover it was the wrong choice.
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insurers compared for you
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My advice costs you nothing.
1 day
I'll come back to you within one working day
12 yrs
in the insurance industry
Questions people ask
Straight answers, no jargon.
Can you give me a ballpark figure before we speak?
I genuinely can't, honestly — critical illness cover is priced on your specific age, health, and medical history, none of which I know from a website. What I can do is turn a short conversation into real figures from real insurers, usually within a day.
Does a family history of illness affect my price even if I'm healthy myself?
It can, depending on the condition and how closely related the family member is, because some conditions have a hereditary element insurers take into account. It doesn't mean you'll automatically be affected, but it's worth being upfront about it so we can see how a specific insurer treats it rather than guessing.
Is it worth choosing a policy with fewer conditions covered to bring costs down?
It's one lever, but not usually where I'd start — the point of the cover is that it's there for the diagnosis you actually end up with, and you don't get to choose that in advance. If the number needs to move, there are usually other places to look first, such as term length or cover amount, before trimming what's covered.
Why did one insurer decline me or add exclusions when another didn't?
Insurers assess the same disclosed health information differently, so it's genuinely possible for one to decline or exclude something that another is happy to cover on standard terms. That's exactly why I don't stop at a single insurer's answer — a decline from one isn't the final word.
Should I buy critical illness cover and life insurance together or separately?
Both are valid — some insurers offer combined policies, others treat them as entirely separate products, and the right approach depends on your circumstances and what you're trying to protect against. It's worth talking through rather than assuming one route is automatically more sensible than the other.
How do you get paid, and are you comparing more than one insurer?
My advice costs you nothing. My commission is funded by the insurer if you decide to go ahead with a policy, and it doesn't change what you pay. I compare cover from leading UK insurers.
Tell me your situation.
Two minutes now. I'll come back to you within one working day with real figures from real insurers, based on you — not a guess.