Enhanced policies available for Critical Illness Insurance

Thursday, July 1, 2010

A recent trend by insurers has seen Critical illness insurance (CII) enjoy an increase in value for consumers. Enhancements to existing policies on the market are including an increased range of conditions that insurers are prepared to cover, or a change in the definitions of illnesses, which increases the likelihood of people being able to claim for certain conditions.

Critical Illness Insurance is designed to provide a cash lump sum for people who are diagnosed with chronic or serious illnesses which prevent them from working, including strokes, cancer and heart attacks. Previously, the majority of insurers have considered claims against a rigid set of definitions listed within policies, meaning many people were unable to claim because their specific condition did not fall within the specified criteria.

However, in a bid to enhance the cover provided for people and increase the value of CIC, a number of insurers including the Legal & General, AXA, Aviva, LV, Zurich and Fortis have all made changes to their claims criteria within their policy offerings, improving prospects for claimants. Legal & General have changed the criteria for claims against eleven different conditions, which provide cover beyond the guidelines set out by industry regulators ABI, the Association of British Insurers.

Changes which seem to have taken place across the board for CIC policies include the scrapping of age limits for claims involving Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s, and a relaxing of criteria in relation to heart attack claims. It is thought that rather than competing over the number of illnesses covered by insurance policies, instead companies are now enhancing their policies overall in an effort to be more competitive in the market, and attract more customers.

Despite the recent improvements, customers are advised to buy carefully, checking the small print on policies, choosing index-linked products, getting advice on existing conditions, and look for enhanced benefits such as counseling before selecting their ideal CIC package.