Redefining Critical Illness Insurance: Industry Moves and Debates

There was lots of exciting news last week from movers within the industry to a fantastic debate on if Critical Illness is still fit for purpose with the key question being asked does critical illness need a revamp?   

Our dear friend Setul Mehta has announced his move to pastures new joining AIG Life as Head of Intermediary Distribution. My colleague, Nikki Cooke, caught up with Setul this week to congratulate him and ask him how he feels about this exciting move, Setul’s comments were:

“An exciting opportunity awaits me. There is so much untapped potential to help advisers understand the richness of the product range at AIG. The approach to supporting advisers at AIG also fills me with so much positivity, as very much a hybrid approach, face-to-face support, telephone support and also specialists in place to help with the training and education of advisers. And we know that this is what advisers are certainly seeking.

Now it is my role to bring exposure to the products and people at AIG that are there to support intermediaries.”

Congratulations Setul, myself and everyone at Protection Guru wish you the very best for your new role.

Last Tuesday the Money Marketing Initiative was held in London with a fantastic audience and lineup of key people within our industry. Critical Illness was a key topic of conversation with our very own Adam Higgs & Dr Adam Hazell joining Robyn Allen and Alan Lakey on a panel.

The panel debate was around ‘Consumer Duty & Critical Illness – how to achieve optimal customer outcomes’ and it created a good debate with Robyn quoting “The word ‘critical’ to a consumer often makes them think about death,” she suggested. “That’s not necessarily what it is about, it’s not generally something that’s life-threatening. It can be, but it’s more leaning towards life-altering.  

When asked whether critical illness has reached its peak Adam shared his views: “We are approaching a point where critical illness will never be better than it is now from a quality and price perspective. Medical advancements mean that many of these conditions will either be diagnosed at an earlier stage and therefore be more treatable. Or there may be cures and treatments that come in, again making them less severe. Insurers will have to start looking at their workings, drawback and potentially cover less.’’

So what does this mean for the future of Critical Illness … There has been lots of discussion since we, Protection Guru, announced the launch of ‘Designed by Doctors’ at our recent awards. There is clearly an appetite to review the current product……