EDITION 3 | NOVEMBER 2021
15
Don ’ t leave financial advice to chance
One in 12 of all Serious Illness Cover claims paid out in 2020 were for conditions only covered by Vitality .
Andrew McCurrie
Actuary and Director of Technical Marketing
Vitality ty-based amounted linked to the lifestyle impact . This ensures that conditions with the same lifestyle impact are both covered at the same level while allowing more comprehensive cover and increased likelihood of claim .
Critical illness policies generally have an ‘ all or nothing ’ approach with any additional conditions not paid at a 100 % level being subject to limits .
Put simply , critical Illness products are a gamble as to whether a client receives a payment that is disproportionately large
... this approach helps to ensure their cover stays in place for longer , potentially preventing them from becoming financially vulnerable if an illness recurs or they suffer an unrelated secondary condition ...
What do a 25-year-old male suffering from Crohn ’ s disease , a 35-year-old female diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism and a 32-year-old male who experience a detached retina all have in common ?
Simple , they all received a Serious illness Cover payment for a condition that isn ’ t paid by any other provider in the market . And they were not alone . In 2020 , one in 12 Serious Illness Cover claimants received a payment for a condition that is only covered by Vitality . Pulmonary Embolisms was the most claimed upon unique condition in 2020 by Vitality Serious Illness Cover members , followed by moderately severe inflammatory bowel disease and surgery for cardiac arrhythmia ( irregular heartbeat ).
Rather than paying out a set amount for a limited number of conditions , Vitality ’ s Serious illness Cover pays out a severior that they receive no payment at all and for the clients mentioned at the start of the article , they would have lost that gamble .
In addition to this , any Serious Illness Cover plan can be claimed on an unlimited number of times , up to three times the level of the initial cover selected . Last year , one in 11 claimants had claimed previously on their plan and one in 20 were making their third claim or more .
Why should this matter for your client ? Because this approach helps to ensure their cover stays in place for longer , potentially preventing them from becoming financially vulnerable if an illness recurs or they suffer an unrelated secondary condition , even after they ’ ve claimed .
Further insights on Vitality ’ s claims experience can be found in our recently released Claims and Benefit report . To find out more adviser . vitality . co . uk / life