Protecting clients whilst their application is being underwritten – 5 things you should read
Whilst in an ideal world protection insurance policies could be applied for and placed on risk immediately, unfortunately there are many scenarios where that isn’t possible. This could be down to medical disclosures made by the client that require further evidence, to large sums-assured being requested that exceed the insurer’s non-medical limits. Delays with underwriting can place the client in a very risky position. Until the policy has actually started and been placed on risk, any change in health can impact the application and of course if the client fell ill or died, they don’t officially have a policy in force.
Fortunately, some protection is offered by insurers whilst an application is being assessed in the form of free, or in some cases immediate cover. In this round-up we bring you all of our recent and up to date insights on free and immediate cover across income protection, critical illness and life cover.
Free cover for income protection
Whilst arguably the most important protection solution for many clients, income protection insurance is also notable for the very small number of insurers to offer free cover on IP applications. In this insight we highlighted those insurers that do offer it and the differences in the cover they provide.
Critical illness free cover
Like income protection, free cover on critical illness applications is still only offered by a relatively small number of insurers. In this insight we examined the different scenarios where insurers offer critical illness free cover and some of the complexities and differences between those insurers and the free cover options they offer.
Life insurance free cover
Free cover has typically been most associated with life insurance applications and this is where the majority of insurers currently provide their free cover options. As with other benefits, there are a number of different scenarios and types of free cover provided, as we highlighted in this insight.
What is immediate cover and how does it work?
Immediate Cover (as it’s referred to by Aegon and Legal & General, or Underwrite Later by Royal London) is a relatively unique innovation, allowing clients to place their policy on risk in certain circumstances, before full medical underwriting has been completed. This option is mostly associated with business protection applications, where Aegon uniquely provide it for both life and critical illness cover. In this insight we examined how immediate cover works and some of the differences between those insurers offering it.
Royal london extend underwrite later
As an addition to the above insight, we covered a recent development from Royal London and the extension of their Underwrite Later option to personal individual life and whole of life applications. As well as detailing the changes Royal London unveiled, the insight also includes some interesting statistics shared with us by Royal London, highlighting why more advisers should considering using Underwrite Later if available.
