Old Mutual Wealth PROTECT have released significant upgrades to their Critical Illness proposition. This is available on both Level Fixed Term and Rolling Term contracts.

If you’d like to learn more please contact Bernadette Collins, Protection Specialist on 07471 216269 or by email on Bernadette.collins@omwealth.com.

Please find below a press articles and new literature suite together with a very brief summary of the highlights.

Comfort in comprehensive cover

Many of us have possessions we worked hard to obtain and are precious to us. Putting insurance on these items seems like a no-brainer – but how much and what kind is a difficult decision, particularly as insurance policies tend to have a lot of options and it can be challenging to run through reams of ‘what if’ situations.

When it comes to health issues these questions get even harder, particularly as people get older, have more dependants, and bills to pay. Critical Illness cover should not just be about a single claim for the policyholder and instead should be a well-rounded, comprehensive proposition that doesn’t just focus on new payment definitions but gives its customers support before, during and after a claim.

While advisers are well placed to help their clients negotiate the various options available on critical illness policies, both they and their clients can take comfort in picking cover that is comprehensive and built to fit with trends in modern day medicine.

In this day and age medicine is helping us survive illnesses such as cancer and strokes. However, while medicine has made significant strides, the sad fact is that many people who survive such events could be faced with another diagnosis.

Statistics from the Stroke Association show that in 2015 there were over 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK and over a third of those survivors were dependent on others.

Such statistics remind us that additional care can be needed, which can lead to ongoing financial pressure if someone is still suffering the effects of a long term illness. Under our Protect policy, if a client meets the requirements, they can look to get an additional £50,000, or the benefit amount if lower,  as part of their new upgraded critical illness cover to help them get on with life even after a serious illness.

And we don’t think that our responsibility to our customers should end with a claim. As part of this principle, we have improved our after-claim cover for 14 conditions including cardiomyopathy, heart attack and kidney failure.

We know when clients get cover it’s not just about them, it’s about their loved ones and it is our duty to ensure that we fully support families. In a parent’s eyes their child never truly grows up which is one of the reasons why we have also extended our children’s cover to a child’s 22nd birthday.

Similarly, whilst in an ideal world everyone should be covered throughout much of their life, we understand that getting a 22 year old to see the necessity for critical illness cover may be harder than for those of us who have seen a few more summers. For this reason we decided to make the process of getting critical illness cover as easy as possible for this group and at 22 a ‘child’ can apply for their own cover, without underwriting, up to £25,000 (or £50,000 if both parents are covered).

Although we understand that financial security is the biggest driver for someone getting a critical illness product , there are a myriad of different factors that ultimately contribute to someone’s happiness and security which is why our There For You service comes as standard. This enables clients to access any of the following services even after a claim: serious illness support, after hospital care, second medical opinions, mental health support, bereavement support and help with long term/old age care.

This upgrade is about us focusing on the complete proposition when it comes to our critical illness cover rather than just the number of new conditions we’re adding. It’s vitally important for you to know we’re always here for your clients whenever they, their families, or their business needs us most.

Old Mutual Wealth enhances critical illness cover

  • Addition of new medical conditions including mental illness and cancer in situ – with surgery
  • Over a dozen improvements to payment conditions
  • Improvements to children’s cover, which comes as standard, with eight new child specific conditions
  • Once a child turns 22 and they are no longer covered by their parents policy they can apply for their own cover, without underwriting, up to £25,000 or £50,000 if both parents are covered

Old Mutual Wealth, part of Quilter plc, has upgraded its critical illness cover with nearly 80 enhancements. A combination of new medical conditions, enhancements to payment conditions, improvements to children’s cover and clearer definitions, will mean more customers can claim when they are faced with difficult times. All of these new upgrades combine to give make Old Mutual Wealth’s critical illness cover comprehensive as standard without the need to bolt on additional cover.

As part of the upgrade, Old Mutual Wealth has introduced an outcome based claim for mental illness. Critical Illness policies rely on a diagnosis of conditions for clients to claim. However, not all illnesses have a clear diagnosis, particularly mental health, which impacts one in four people in the UK each year.  Old Mutual Wealth will pay out for any mental illness that has met four criteria.*

All Old Mutual Wealth critical illness products come with the There For You service. This allows customers to access any of the following services even after a claim: serious illness support; after hospital care; second medical opinion; mental health support; bereavement support and help with long term/old age care.

In 2017, Old Mutual Wealth paid 94.6 per cent of all critical illness claims.

Paul Roberts, head of Protection at Old Mutual Wealth, part of Quilter plc, comments:

“We all hope that a critical illness won’t happen to us or our loved ones. However, while we hope for the best, it is prudent to prepare for the worst. Our cover aims to be comprehensive as standard, avoiding the need to gamble by choosing which bolt on you may or more importantly may not want to include.

 “Over the past year we have assessed our customer feedback and claims experiences to better understand how we can improve our products. We have then designed our upgrade to not only provide cover for a wide-ranging set of illnesses but so that it  also provides additional financial support for longer term illnesses, children’s cover and options to reinstate cover after a claim. Similarly, as standard, we include our There For You service which allows people to seek emotional support, or practical advice at any time.”

Changes included:

Five new medical conditions for full payment:

  • Brain injury due to trauma, anoxia or hypoxia – resulting in permanent symptoms
  • Heart failure – of specified severity
  • Interstitial Lung Disease
  • Mental Illness – of specified severity
  • Syringomyelia or syringobulbia requiring surgery

13 new additional payment definitions:

  • Aortic aneurysm – with endovascular repair
  • Brain abscess drained via craniotomy
  • Cancer in Situ – with surgery
  • Cancer in Situ of the Larynx
  • Cauda Equina syndrome – with permanent symptoms
  • Drug resistant epilepsy – with specified surgery
  • Gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) or Neuroendocrine tumour (NET) of low malignant potential – with Surgery
  • Guillain-Barré syndrome – with persisting clinical symptoms
  • Haematoma of the brain – with surgery
  • Heartbeat abnormalities with permanent pacemaker insertion
  • Myasthenia gravis – with persisting clinical symptoms
  • Removal of one or more lobes of the lung – for disease or trauma
  • Skin cancer – advanced stage as specified

Children’s cover, which comes as standard, will be extended to the Child’s 22nd birthday and benefit from 8 new child specific definitions, including:

  • Cerebral palsy
  • Cystic Fibrosis
  • Muscular Dystrophy
  • Spina Bifida

Additional children’s cover enhancements:

  • Advanced illness cover of £10,000
  • New child life cover of £5,000 in addition to a CI claim
  • Double payment if treatment is required overseas.

Improvements to payment conditions include:

*Mental health criteria are:

  • an admission to a psychiatric ward where treatment was provided for at least 14 consecutive nights; and
  • has chronic unremitting symptoms; and
  • has not responded to comprehensive management and treatment for which the person has completed based on best clinical practice for more than 1 year; and
  • has resulted in the inability to perform any type of work for payment or reward for a period of at least 1 year.