Should Civil Servants Buy Critical Illness Cover?

If suffering from non-emergency minor illnesses, civil servants can rely on the existing government medical benefits to enjoy most public medical services for free. Even staying at a public hospital for surgery costs only the hospitalization fee, which won’t create a significant financial burden.

However, if unfortunately diagnosed with serious critical illnesses like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or stroke, it is possible that the medical coverage for civil servants are not sufficient at all!

The medical benefits for civil servants are limited to government public hospitals and do not include services from private hospitals.

As we all know, Hong Kong Public Hospitals have long been stretched for resources, with waiting times depending on the patient’s condition, location, and usage. Even as a civil servant, you won’t get to “jump the queue” or receive any special medical privileges—the wait is pretty much the same as for everyone else. In other words, if you’re diagnosed with a critical illness, you might not get treatment right away, unless you’re willing to pay out of pocket for a private hospital.

Critical illnesses come with a risk of recurrence, so even after recovery, patients may need regular follow-ups or rehabilitation treatments.

If you’re a civil servant who joined on or after June 1, 2000, under the new system, the government won’t continue providing medical coverage after you retire. That means all ongoing medical expenses for long-term battles will have to come out of your savings.

A critical illness insurance policy provides a lump-sum payout with no restrictions on how you use it—you can use it right away for medical costs or save it for retirement. If you don’t want to dip into your retirement funds for healthcare, getting critical illness insurance while you’re still healthy is a smart move.

Treating and recovering from a critical illness can take a long time, and in severe cases, you might need to take years off work to rest—even government jobs don’t offer unlimited paid sick leave, so you could end up on half pay or even no pay during recovery.

If you have other expenses like mortgage payments or your kids’ school fees on top of medical costs, a serious illness could quickly make life financially tight, taking a big toll on your family’s quality of life.

That’s where critical illness insurance steps in, offering a substantial lump-sum payout to ease the cash flow strain from being out of work. Plus, this payout is unrestricted , so you can use it flexibly—whether it’s covering private hospital fees, medical expenses, or just everyday living costs while you’re recovering. It’s got way more flexibility than standard reimbursement-based health insurance.

Most employers provide Company Medical Insurance for employees, and government employees are no exception. If you are a civil servant, in addition to basic public hospital medical coverage, you can also enjoy dental benefits and free use of medical and dental services from the Department of Health or the Hospital Authority.

However, the existing medical benefits for civil servants are on a reimbursement basis and do not cover lump-sum compensation critical illness insurance .

If civil servants need additional medical coverage, they can choose to subscribe to Voluntary Medical Insurance Scheme (VMIS) , and the premiums are entirely paid by the subscribers themselves.

Civil servants enjoy sick leave days, which depend on their physical examination results and length of service (excluding periods of continuous sick leave exceeding 31 days), with a maximum of nearly half a year.

Civil servants enjoy various benefits, but that doesn’t mean you can rest easy. Instead, you should promptly review whether your current coverage is sufficient and comprehensive.

If you feel the need to get critical illness insurance, keep these 4 key points in mind before deciding:

1. Review Your Existing Coverage

Start by listing your current protections, including the medical benefits provided by the government as an employee benefit. Then, compare the covered illnesses, scope of coverage, limits, Deductible fee (out-of-pocket expenses), and more. This will help you identify any gaps or weaknesses in your protection.

2. Check for Multiple Critical Illness Coverage

Critical illnesses are more prone to recurrence, so the “recurrence rate” is a key factor to consider before buying. Many products on the market offer “multiple” or even “unlimited” claims for critical illnesses, but the specific diseases covered, number of claims, and payout amounts vary.

3. Pay Attention to Payout Terms

When buying insurance, the devil is often in the details, so always read the payout terms carefully to avoid disputes during claims or discovering that a condition isn’t covered. Common tricky details include requiring the critical illness to reach a specific severity level for a claim, or the waiting period between multiple claims related to the multiple coverage we mentioned.

4. Compare Critical Illness Premiums

Critical illness insurance generally falls into two categories: savings-based and consumption-based (also known as pure critical illness insurance ). The main difference is in the premiums. Pure critical illness insurance has lower premiums that increase with age and doesn’t include any investment or savings components, while savings-based options have higher premiums that stay constant during the payment period and include investment or savings elements.

Besides the savings component, the multiple critical illness coverage we discussed earlier also affects premiums—policies with multiple coverage typically cost more. Weigh your financial situation, ability to pay, and medical needs before choosing.

Bowtie Term CI has no savings component, so policyholders can enjoy the perks of “low premiums and high coverage,” plus multiple coverage for the big three critical illnesses ( cancer , stroke and heart disease ), with up to 5 claims, each paying out 100%¹.

Bowtie covers 38 serious critical illnesses, which includes over 97% of critical illness claims, giving overall coverage exceeding 98%². It also protects against 4 “severe conditions,” even for illnesses without diagnosed cases, providing more comprehensive, practical, and value-for-money protection.