CIExpert has released its assessment of changes Aegon has made to its critical illness policy.
Alan Lakey, director of CIExpert, the critical illness reference and comparison service, noted that the changes listed actually occurred in late December but were only released by the provided yesterday.
Changes have been made to eight conditions:
• Benign Spinal Cord Tumour
A non-malignant tumour in the spinal canal that has caused permanent neurological deficit.
Whilst there are 4,500 new diagnoses annually only around 3% are spinal. Only around
30% of these result in permanent neurological deficit so the numbers of claims will be low.
Ageas joins Aviva, Friends Life and LV by including this condition.
• Intensive Care requiring Mechanical Ventilation
To claim there must be 10 continuous days on mechanical ventilation involving tracheal
intubation.
Whilst there are around 2,500 instances each year many of these are for
conditions such as stroke and cancer which are covered already. Also, not every instance
will involve a 10 day period. Aviva, Bright Grey and Scottish Provident already include this
condition and Friends Life includes it for children only.
• Removal of an Eyeball
For a claim to be admitted the eyeball must be surgically removed due to disease or injury.
Of the 500 annual instances the vast majority will be due to cancer, which is already
covered. This condition is already included by Aviva, LV, Legal & General and Zurich.
Improved Conditions
• Benign Brain Tumour
Cover has been extended to meet a claim where the tumour is surgically removed by
craniotomy.
This moves Aegon away from the more restrictive ABI model wording which is
only used by four companies.
• Cancer
Ageas, Friends Life and LV already extend cover to include basal cell or malignant squamous
cell carcinoma and Aegon joins this group via this upgrade.
• Major Organ Transplant
This definition has been improved by including the transplant of a lobe of the liver or lungs.
Transplant of a lobe of liver accounts for 20% of all liver transplants so this upgrade is not
insignificant. Ageas, Aviva, Friends Life, LV and Zurich already extend their cover in this
way.
• Multiple Sclerosis
Aegon has reduced the 6 month qualifying period to 3 months bringing it into line with
Ageas, Aviva, Bright Grey, Friends Life, LV and Scottish Provident. Legal & General remains
the only provider to not require any specific qualifying period.
• Stroke
Aegon has removed the exclusion relating to traumatic injury.
