Aviva is improving its critical illness cover. It is increasing maximum sum insured to £2 million, extending the terms for which policies are available and widening the definitions covered for all new policies.
The changes are being introduced following a review of products offered in the market and the mechanisms advisers use when valuing polices offered by competing providers. This prompted Aviva to establish a set of principles to make the process of developing its CI cover transparent and clearer for advisers to understand.
The improvements to policy terms include:
- Increasing maximum sum assured from £500,000 to £2m
- Increasing maximum term assured from 25 to 40 years
- Increasing maximum age assured to 75 years
- Increasing number of conditions covered * (See notes to editors)
- Improving definitions of existing conditions and removing unnecessary exclusions
- Increasing scope and doubling the level of free child cover from £10,000 to £20,000.
Michael Whyte, chief underwriter for Aviva, said: “Critical illness protection helps financially support families during some of the most difficult times they can experience. The changes Aviva has introduced will increase consumer confidence by reducing complexity and making its cover more comprehensive.
“There has been a move in the market to increase the number of conditions covered to make policies appear more attractive, but the problem is that this lures customers and financial advisers to compare policies solely on the number of conditions covered.
“The Aviva approach is to follow these principles. We won’t add conditions unless they increase the scope of cover – for example, they are not already covered within other definitions. The conditions covered must have a significant impact on a person’s life even if rare and definitions must be able to be fulfilled under current medical practice.”
Life and critical illness pays out a lump sum if you either die or are diagnosed with a critical illness that meets Aviva’s policy definition and survive at least 14 days. Aviva covers only the critical illnesses it defines in its policies and no others.
Aviva offers critical illness cover only with term assurance and mortgage life insurance plans. A policy will pay out only if diagnosed during the term and there is no cash-in value.
