Legal & General said that it has enhanced its critical illness product, by incorporating new definitions for eleven illnesses over and above the ABI standard.
According to Legal & General, four new illnesses including mastectomy; multiple system atrophy; open heart surgery; and removal of an eyebal are covered under the new product. The company has for the first time introduced a severity based cover for Mastectomy.
The company said that an additional 25% of sum assured or GBP25,000 is available.
The company said that last year it rejected 4.6% of critical illness claims for not meeting policy definitions. The new critical illness definitions are designed to highlight when a policy will and won’t pay out, helping to enhance consumer confidence in the industry.
The critical illness cover also features enhanced children’s cover, guaranteed insurability options and waiver of premium.
Legal & General’s new critical illness and income protection products offers efficient pricing across all products and further discounts for clients applying for multiple products. It also offers efficiency in form of split sums assured so that clients can choose different sums assured for term assurance and post-authorisation to vary sum assured, vary term and remove a life assured (from a joint policy).
Bonnie Burns, protection product and technical director of Legal & General, said: We’re raising the bar for critical illness cover yet again and at the same time we have taken the opportunity to enhance the ABI’s ‘model illnesses’. We have successfully created a leading critical illness product whilst making it more flexible for consumers.