How Much Does Critical Illness Insurance Cost? Real Rates by Age and Tobacco Use

This table shows monthly employee rates per $1,000 of coverage from the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company plan summary for Johns Hopkins. Rates are by attained age, so they change as you move into a new age band.

To find your monthly premium, multiply the rate by your benefit in thousands. A 50-year-old non-tobacco employee buying $20,000 pays $1.48 x 20 = $29.60 a month. The same person as a tobacco user pays $2.53 x 20 = $50.60.

Spouse rates in this plan use the same table, based on the spouse’s age. Child coverage is a flat amount: $2.90 a month for a $10,000 child benefit, up to $8.70 for $30,000.

Securian’s 2026 plan for Purdue employees quotes flat monthly prices instead of rates per $1,000. Here are employee-only, non-tobacco prices.

Tobacco users in the same plan pay $38.30 a month for $10,000 at ages 60 to 64, versus $22.70 for non-tobacco users. Adding a spouse raises the $20,000 employee price at 40 to 44 from $14.20 to $21.30, because spouse coverage in this plan is 50% of the employee amount. Dependent parent coverage at 25% is included automatically.

MetLife’s plan at Occidental College (coverage effective April 1, 2023) used issue-age rates per $1,000 for an employee-only, non-tobacco enrollee. The plan Q&A says rates do not rise because of age, though a note on the rate table says rates change at new age bands, so check your own certificate.

Note how this compares with the Lincoln table. At ages 25 to 29, the MetLife issue-age rate ($0.54) is more than double the Lincoln attained-age rate ($0.24). At 65 to 69 the MetLife rate ($5.06) is close to the Lincoln rate ($4.58). Issue-age plans tend to charge more early in exchange for stability later. MetLife also paid a total benefit of up to 300% of the initial amount through recurrence benefits, which affects value, not just price.

Group plans also matter. Employer plans often skip health questions and use pooled rates. Individual policies may ask health questions, may price by smaller age bands, and stay with you if you change jobs. Compare with what affects critical illness insurance premiums.

The two products cost money for different reasons. Critical illness pays a lump sum for a short list of serious diagnoses, so you pay for a large payout on a rare event. Hospital indemnity pays for each hospital admission or day, so you pay for a smaller payout on a more common event.

For a direct example, Cigna’s 2026 Hospital Care plan for Dartmouth costs $11.23 a month for employee-only low-plan coverage and pays $1,000 per admission. See hospital indemnity insurance cost and critical illness vs hospital indemnity to decide which fits your budget.

Buy at work if you can. Group rates and no health questions are common in employer plans. The plans we read let employees enroll at open enrollment or after a qualifying life event.

Choose the benefit you need, not the maximum. Many people size the benefit to their health plan’s out-of-pocket maximum plus a few weeks of pay.

Quit tobacco. Tobacco rates are much higher in every plan we read. Ask whether your plan lets you move to non-tobacco rates after you stop, and how long you must wait.

Use the wellness benefit. The Lincoln plan pays $100 a year per covered person for a qualifying screening. The MetLife and Securian plans pay $50. That offsets part of the premium.

Shopping carrier by carrier? See Aflac critical illness insurance cost and MetLife critical illness insurance cost, or get a critical illness insurance quote online.

Compare a year of premium with the gap a diagnosis would leave. A 40-year-old non-tobacco employee in the Lincoln plan pays $0.68 x 20 x 12 = $163.20 a year for $20,000 of coverage. One covered heart attack, stroke or invasive cancer diagnosis would pay the full $20,000 in that plan. Whether that trade makes sense depends on your savings, deductible and family history. Read is critical illness insurance worth it for a fuller answer.