Critical Illness Insurance  Critical Insurance is a VALUABLE piece of insurance. 

From Brandon Abo - Critical Insurance is a VALUABLE piece of insurance that can bridge a gap between health insurance co-pays and deductibles and also provide some cash to make up the the low disability income the client may receive. Below are some key points as to why this is an important sale.

Retirement Protection - Critical Illness Insurance is the only product that can truly protect your retirement portfolio during the asset accumulation stage of life. Many agents work hard developing a "plan" for their clients retirement, only to watch that plan go up in smoke when the client is diagnosed with a critical health condition and doesn't die. All the effort by the agent and client to develop a plan is no good if it's not protected.

Income Protection - Disability protects your clients paycheck. At least a percentage of their paycheck. Considering only about 60% of your client's income is replaced with disability coverage (leaving 40% uncovered). Disability policies are usually sold with a 90 day elimination period (benefits are always paid in arrears) often leaving months of no income. Critical Illness Insurance does not have the occupation restrictions that disability insurance does and it provides an immediate tax free, capital based way of replacing income. It is easier to turn capital into income than it is income into capital.

Mortgage Protection - Why is it that banks request term insurance (as a kind of mortgage protection) when only 3% of mortgage foreclosures are due to a death? Critical Illness Insurance is the new kind of mortgage protection! Considering 48% of mortgage foreclosures are due to a critical health condition, this coverage is imperative.

Interesting Brandon, thank you for showing the benefits of Critical Illness insurance. Its hard, as a consumer, to think about preparing for a critical illness, because its the "it won't happen to me" theory. Although, put in the situation I would kick myself if I didn't have the protection I needed in my desperate time of need. Is this type of coverage expensive? What is the average monthly cost? 

On a side note, besides general health insurance, what would you consider to be the perfect life/health policy? Would it include life insurance, dental, vision, medical, critical illness, disability? Is too much coverage silly or genius?

All separate questions so hopefully I can address them all.

Expensive, to me is relative. I would rather look at it as, what is protection of your income and family well being worth to you? For a couple dollars a day, you can get Critical Insurance policy. Costs depend on the amount you want, age, and either a simplified policy with no medical exam or a fully underwritten policy.

A policy purchased now will last until age 75, last issue age is 59 (age last birthday) and will allow the insured to have a lump sum, tax free benefit in the event they become ill. The $50,000 is the maximum for a simplified issue policy, and a fully underwritten policy is anything upwards to $500,000.
 
A policy from Assurity, there are 3 categories. For maximum benefit simplified policy the base is $50,000, the client can potentially receive $150,000 in benefits. How this works is if the client has cancer, the policy pays him $50,000 and that category is closed. A few years later, he has a heart attack. The policy pays him another $50,000 and that category is closed. And later the client needs a kidney transplant, the client receives $50,000.
 
What is great about a critical illness policy is that upon diagnosis, the client gets paid. With a disability policy, there typically is a 90 day elimination period and the client's income isn’t getting fully replaced. Also with a waiver of premium on a life policy, if the client is out of work, who is paying the bills? Sure, the life insurance policy is paying for itself, but what about everything else?

Can you give us an example of how CLI cost changes with age? A simple chart would help me understand quite a bit.

To answer your other question, I dont' think there is a prefect insurance plan to cover all your needs. Each company specializes in their own market, a health insurance wouldn't have a good life insurance policy that wouldn't lapse or keep the premiums low. A life insurance company typcially doesn't want to do anything outside of life insurance or annuities. What makes it all more dificult is that every state has their own regulations for not all products are available in all states.

Each type of coverage is great for it's own purpose. Health, disability, life, critical, and long term care insurance are all important, you just need to determine your own needs.

I googled and found an interesting example with a chart that helps me.

http://asset-aid.com/premiums-comparison-critical.html

I think that comparison list is too generic without know what you are getting. Not all carriers have the tiers and pay more than the face amount.

Here are some numbers to consider:
Male, non-smoker, $50,000 simplified issued Critical Insurance policy with Assurity
Age 35 = $44.75 monthly
Age 40 = $62.39 monthly
Age 45 = $80.65 monthly
Age 50 = $102.43 monthly
Age 55 = $126.63 monthly

Thank you so much for all of the information.

Another question; if someone purchases a CI policy, but doesn't end up getting sick, can they settle their policy? If they purchase it at 30 and then at 75 they haven't had a critical illness do you just lose all the money you paid? 

Similar to term insurance, once the term expires, that's it. And like auto insurance and health insurance, if you never file a claim, would you get anything back? No, that's the "gamble" you take with insurance. You pay to be protected in the event something happens.
I wouldn't say you "lose" all the money you paid. You paid for peace of mind that if you got sick, injured, or died, the insurance company would pay you what you purchased.

Interesting, great info. Is there a CI product similar to Whole or Universal product like UL or Whole Life?

CI is for asset protection during your asset building and growing years. It isn't intended to last your entire life. There are no products that grow in cash value since this isn't the intention of the product, like how cash accumulates in a whole life or universal life insurance policy.
As I mentioned earlier, it is similar to term life insurance in that if you don't use it, you bought something to keep a peace of mind if something were to happen to you.
Another important aspect to keep in mind, if the insured dies while the policy is inforce, they will be guaranteed to at least receive the premiums paid back. If they passed away from one of the covered illnesses, they will receive the benefit according to the policy.
General example here, the client dies of a heart attack instantly. That is a covered illness and the beneficiary will receive the full payment. The client dies in a car accident, no illness covered, the beneficiary will receive all the premiums back the insured paid into the policy.

Some key statistics:
Cancer – Every 21 seconds, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with cancer.
Stroke – Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke.
Major Cardiovascular Disease (heart attack) – Every 25 seconds, someone in the U.S. will have a coronary event, and about every minute, someone will die from one.