According to a recent article by the Guardian newspaper 70% of people buying Critical Illness Cover believe that they are getting advice when buying direct from insurers either over the phone or online. The FSA is worried about this statistic but so too should the insurance industry.
It’s taken a long time for Critical Illness Insurance to get a good name and the insurers need to do everything they can to make it stay that way. Of course selling direct will always be better for profits but it is a careful balancing act if it means that bad press could eventually come from disatisfied customers when they try to make a claim and find that their policy might not have been what they’d hoped for.
We recently published a comparison table of what the major Critical illness providers cover in their policies. Click here if you would like to see it.
It should also be the client’s responsibility to make sure that they are clear what they think they are buying. There are always those who just want to find the cheapest product and then complain about it later when it doesn’t work out. Critical Illness Insurance is like anything else. You get what you pay for. Even then you can still get a great product for a great price. We currently waive 50% of our commission for online enquiries. This 50% is put back into the policy which makes the premiums cheaper but the client has still had advice.
The bottom line is that critical illness can be an expensive policy to maintain over a long term so people owe to themselves to make sure that they are getting the best policy possible for their money.
Wed, May 13, 2009
critical illness cover