One of the main reasons people take out critical illness insurance is for the fact that cancer is covered.  Cancer is a big illness to cover under a critical illness policy and you don’t have to go far before you find lots of stories on the internet where people have had their cliams for cancer declined by critical illness companies.

Most critical illness providers sign up to the Association of British Insurers critical illness definitions.  The critical illness company therefore has a minimum definition in place and can then add extra cover if needed.  According to the Association of British Insurers the cancer definition is as follows:-

Cancer 

– excluding less advanced cases

Any malignant tumour positively diagnosed with histological confirmation and characterised by the uncontrolled growth of malignant cells and invasion of tissue. The term malignant tumour includes leukaemia,lymphoma and sarcoma. All cancers which are histologically classified as any of the following: 

- non-invasive;

- cancer in situ;

- having either borderline malignancy; or

- having low malignant potential.

All tumours of the prostate unless histologically classified as having a Gleason score greater than 6 or having progressed to at least clinical TNM

• Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia unless histologically classified as having progressed to at least Binet Stage A.
• Any skin cancer other than malignant melanoma that has been histologically classified as having caused invasion beyond the epidermis (outer layer of skin).

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.

There are plenty of life companies offering critical illness policies but what do the policies cover?  Critical illness policies can vary from provider to provider.  For example, there are only two major life companies offering cover for rheumatiod arthritis.  Masectomy gets its own definition with some providers too.  So to make things a little easier we have gathered all of the conditions offered by the main life assurance companies are compared them side-by-side.  Click here to view the document

I keep on hearing about Twitter being the social media format of choice and that it is a great way to spread the word about your product or service via online marketing.  I have a Twitter account set up - www.twitter.com/criticalillness.  I have been following other Twitter users and they  immediately follow me which shows that there is clearly some etiquette in place.  There seems to be a lot of Twitter users who have hundreds if not thousands of followers and they in turn are following equal amounts of users. 

When I check my page there is a steady stream of updates that come through and if I am honest more than I can follow up.  I am only following 29 accounts so how do you manage when over a thousand accounts are sending updates through?

I am sceptical about the whole process and wonder if it is just a case of firing messages off into cyberspace that no one will ever see.  Is it a case of trying to have as many followers as possible which then makes you look ‘popular?’  I want to join in on the experiment and see what happens.

Can anyone tell me if they have had good results from Twitter that can be directly attributed to Twitter?

Many business owners are not aware that business protection exists so far as shareholder protection, partnership protection, and keyman insurance are concerned.  It is often the case that once the business understands how these products can help the business survive through the worst times , it tends to make sense.  First of all people tend to see the logic in life assurance as it is a dead cert.  Statistically we know that we are going to die!  It’s simple and is an understandable insurance policy.

What about critical illness insurance?  Does this fit into a business protection plan?  The answer is yes and perhaps it makes more sense than the life assurance requirement.  We all know we are going  to die but how many people die prematurely, ie, before old age and natural causes?  Statistically critical illness is far more likely to happen during our working lives.  Cancer Research UK states that we all have a 1 in 3 chance of being diagnosed with some form of cancer in our lifetimes so surely this is something worth insuring against?  You only have to look at some of the statistics to see that critical illness insurance does have a place in business protection insurance planning.

In the UK, one in three people develop cancer in their lives and one in four will die from it. In total in 2004, 152857 people died from from cancer in the UK. There are 289000 new cases of cancer diagnosed each year.
Source – National statistics online and cancer research website 2006.

In the UK, the lifetime risk for breast cancer in women is one in nine. In 2005 45500 women were diagnosed with breast cancer.
Source – Cancer research website 2006

In 2005 in the UK, 1 in 5 men and 1 in 6 women died from heart disease
Source – British Heart Foundation

Someone has a heart attack in the UK every 2 minutes and almost 2.6 million people have heart and circulatory disease.
Source – British Heart Foundation.

In the UK one person has a stroke every five minutes
Source – The Stroke Association website.

Every year, at least one in 13 deaths in the European Union is likely to be related to excess weight.
Source – Infant and Dietetic Foods Association.

Over 1.65 million people will be off work due to illness each year for 6 months or more

Around 120,000 people have Parkinson’s Disease and 1 in 7 are under 40 when diagnosed.

Coronary Heart Disease is responsible for 12% of all working days lost through sickness.

There are now over 700,000 people with dementia. By the year 2010 if the current trend continues this figure is expected to reach 850,000

Approximately 8,500 people in the UK suffer a Brain Haemorrhage each year, with 3 or 4 out of 10 patients being left with long-term problems

Around 350,000 people have rheumatoid arthritis.
(Arthritis Research Campaign, 2002)

There are currently approximately 85,000 people with MS. Each year, around 2,500 individuals are newly diagnosed. MS is the most common neurological disorder among young adults. People are usually diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, but can be older. (Multiple Sclerosis Society, 2002)

You bet it is!  To have no knowledge of websites and then set one up, get links, write copy, keep reading that content is king all the time and see that ‘Google’s view of the importance of this page is 0/10′ is seriously depressing.

Today, three months after starting this website and 90 plus related posts, I now have a google pagerank of 1/10 and it feels good!  Never before did I ever think that getting 1/10 would provide such joy.  It probably won’t last though as I’m now more interested in 2/10 but at least I now know google is watching and finds something valuable in my site.

2/10 here we come!

Critical Illness cover has always been a complex product to the UK market.  The ABI offers a standard definition list which  most of the critical illness insurance providers subscribe to but then these providers can also offer their own definitions and illnesses in addition to the ABI list too.  This is what leads to confusion in the market place.  Two providers can charge the same premium yet they both offer different plans.  This is precisely why it is best to get advice from a broker before buying cover.

In America critical illness cover exists and is a popular product but at the same time it competes to a certain extent with cancer insurance.  That’s right, there are two plans to choose from.  Cancer accounts for approximately 60% of critical illness cover claims yet it is only one of at least 22 illnesses covered by most critical illness policies.  One of the reasons for people declining critical illness cover is cost, so would it make sense for providers to also offer a cancer only product?  By doing this there would be no confusion as to what was covered within the policy.  The providers could still use the ABI standard definition of cancer.  Obviously the policy would be slightly cheaper than a standard critical illness policy as only one definition would be covered but it could mean that if there was a greater take up then more people would be covered against the number one critical illness definition.

The motor insurance industry has been splitting policy cover for a long time in an effort to make policies more appealing to those on a budget.  you can have fully comprehensive with windscreen cover, breakdown cover, replacement car and legal expenses if budget isn’t an issue but if it is you can simply opt to remove extras you don’t wish to pay for.  Maybe this option might work for the critical illness providers too.

Scottish Provident has proudly published its claims statistics for January through to December 2008.  Claims payouts are 20% higher than the previous year according to Scottish Provident.  Here are some of the published figures:-

• Total number of claims paid – 1514
• Total percentage of claims paid  – 86.7%
• Average payout  – £75750
• Largest claim – £552487
• Average age of claimant – 44
• Average months in force before claim – 73
• Cancer accounted for 60% of claims
• Childrens cover was the fifth highest claim category with 65 claims

Of course there were unpaid claims too as with all other insurers. These were a combination of non-disclosure and the claim not meeting the critical illness definition. 180 cases (10.3%) did not meet the required definition in order to make the claim whilst 53 cases (3%) were declined due to non-disclosure.

There are plenty of sites on the internet recommending critical illness cover but is there an instance when critical illness cover is not worth having?  This depends on your own personal circumstances and views.

When Cancer Research state that everyone has a 1 in 3 chance of being diagnosed with some form of cancer at some stage in their lifetimes and you can be absolutely sure that it will never be you then no, Critical Illness Insurance might not be for you.  If you are told that every five minutes, someone in the UK has a stroke and that information does not worry you as you know that it will never be you then critical illness isn’t for you.  When you hear that 1 in 5 men and 1 in 6 women will suffer from heart disease and you can be certain it won’t be you then save your money and don’t buy critical illness cover.  There are plenty more statistics to mention and plenty more critical illnesses (PruProtect will cover over 150 conditions) but if you don’t feel that they are not applicable to you then critical illness cover will never make sense.

For those people who feel that they don’t need critical illness cover it is a blessing to be so confident that they will never suffer any of the illnesses covered in these policies.  There are a lot of people who are worried about critical illnesses and that’s why they have cover.  These people have homes with mortgages, they have families to support, they have bills that have to be paid each month whether they are healthy or not.  Personally, I can’t be that confident that critical illness will never affect me which is why I have cover.  Hopefully, I will never have to claim on it.  For those people who still feel that they don’t need cover, good luck and I hope you have made the right choice.

There may be many reasons why you may have been declined life or critical illness cover.  Just because one insurer has declined you does not mean that others will too.  Each insurer has their own risk profiles so you may well fit with another provider.

Other insurance providers might be able to offer you life or critical illness cover but there may be certain limitations to the policy.  For instance, the insurer might offer you a ‘rated’ policy.  This is where cover is offered but at a higher than normal premium as the insurer feels that they are taking on a higher risk.  This is not personal.  You may want cover but the insurer feels that it is a higher risk for them.  You probaly want cover because you know you might be at risk.  Also, cover might be offered but there may be exclusions to the policy such as guaranteed insurability or a particular pre-existing condition.

If you have been declined life or critical illness cover please call us on 0870 080 2343 or use the quote form inputting as much information as possible to help us help you.