In an ideal world, a critical illness plan would provide a payout whenever the client suffers from an injury or illness that has a significant impact on their life. The name of the condition in this case would be inconsequential with a successful claim being based on the impact of the condition. Clearly the current critical illness market is a long way from this, however the announcements from AIG today signal a marked step towards such a plan. The new approach to critical illness from AIG promises a lot but what has changed and what does this mean for potential customers?