On my recent First Aid refresher course, the tutor asked our group to describe what a heart attack is. Having been in the protection industry for many years I was ready to trot out a paraphrased version of the ABI heart attack critical illness definition.
If she’d asked me.
She didn’t.
But only 1 out of the 8 the tutor did ask got it right.
My latest article for Financial Reporter asks what this means for customers and how they see critical illness products. Please click on the picture to read!
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And when I say we need simplification, I don’t necessarily mean fewer conditions covered. But what about simpler definitions?
“Diagnosis of a heart attack by a consultant cardiologist.” Full stop.
From a pricing point of view that might not be possible but it would certainly be easier to understand than the full ABI technical definition.
Steve Clark
Roger
I read an interesting argument on this – or it may even have been on the excellent MPAF podcast – where the thought is that to simplify CIC products the industry should concentrate more on the impact that the illness has on the policyholder rather than struggling in this age of medical advances to define a condition or illnesss. The product would therefore concentrate on whether you were able to work in your normal job, do the normal activities of our day to day life etc.
Roger
Steve, I think this came up in the Alan Lakey interview. MPAF3.
Back when I first became involved with Bright Grey we looked at a model called “The Effects of Illness”. The idea to dump definitions of illnesses and use effects was innovative. But in the end the market didn’t the idea and we shelved it.