Insurer hones five-star product
Legal & General (L&G) will improve its critical illness product from 15 April, widening the cover available on new policies.
The improvements include:
- better policy wording around organ transplant;
- accident hospitalisation benefit; and
- moving the maximum age at outset to 67.
These new and improved definitions aim to improve clarity, provide better cover for customers and reduce the number of claims that are declined for not meeting the policy definition.
L&G has a Defaqto five-star rating for 2013. Last year the insurer paid out £209m to 3,080 customers for critical illness claims.
L&G product and technical director for retail protection Bonnie Burns said: “Our latest enhancements will help us ensure we continue to deliver what customers want, when it really counts if they need to claim.”
Defaqto insight analyst Ben Heffer said: “Recent enhancements to Legal & General’s critical illness contract include a new cardiac arrest definition. This is a good move on their part and it is potentially more valuable than simply adding to the lengthening list of rare illnesses sometimes found in CIC (critical illness cover) plans.
“Legal & General have also taken the opportunity to add some extra generous benefits which acknowledge that not all medical conditions would warrant a payout from a traditional CIC policy, but nevertheless cause financial hardship. The plan is also more flexible now with TPD (total and permanent disability) and indexation available as options rather than automatically included; such an approach allows advisers to more closely match their recommendations to client needs.”
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