Why Movember is a vital tool in the fight against critical illness

Monday will mark the end of November's Movember health awareness campaign.

Campaigns such as Movember, which is for men's health, are vital in raising the profile of critical illnesses and publicising the support which is available for people who want to actively engage with charities and public health bodies in the fightback against these diseases. 

They are also very important for insurers such as Legal & General and for advisers, whose responsibility it is to discuss critical illness cover with their clients.

A conversation about this subject is never an easy one and needs to be approached at an appropriate time; Movember, Decembeard (for bowel cancer) and the many day, week and month-long campaigns during the year provide a perfect opportunity for advisers to raise this subject with their client.

It is a topic that most would prefer not to talk about and often tend to push to the back of their minds.

However, illness is a risk that we all face and the way in which we manage this risk is something which should be considered.

Broker conversations 

It is paramount that brokers are having these conversations with their clients in order to broach the subject and guide them towards preparing themselves financially should they become critically ill.

November, through Movember, has certainly become a month which has become a tradition in recent years for creating awareness in men's health, and therefore presents a good opportunity for advisers to speak with their clients about protection.

Data released in the last week shows that Legal & General paid out nearly £75m in men's critical illness claims in 2014.

These accounted for nearly half (48%) of all critical illness claims Legal & General received in that year.

The five conditions men claimed for most commonly last year were cancer, heart attack, stroke, total and permanent disability and multiple sclerosis, and many statistics such as these are published throughout November, tending to result in people being more open to discussion about the risk of illness.

Equally, while the Movember campaign has helped men to become more aware of the risk of prostate and testicular cancer, for instance, it may come as a shock to some when reading Legal & General's heart attack statistics.

After cancer, heart attack was the second most claimed upon condition by men in 2014, with a huge 85.4% of all heart attack claims coming from men. Added to this is the worrying statistic that the average age of men making a claim for heart attack was just 50 years old.

It is, of course, not just men who need to consider critical illness cover. Every year, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and events such as ‘Wear it Pink' do a truly fantastic job of putting the disease at the forefront of people's minds.

In 2014 Legal and General paid out over £8.5m to women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and also discovered that the average age of a woman making a claim was just 49-years-old.

With one in eight women in the UK now likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, awareness campaigns provide the public and advisers with a suitable opportunity to have those sensitive discussions about critical illness cover.

In addition to awareness days, life events such as new children, a new job, a change in income or the taking out of a mortgage also present a good opportunity to get people thinking about their future.

As potentially unsettling as some of the critical illness statistics can be, it is important to highlight them to support the work of campaigns such as Movember, Decembeard and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, as well as the many others.

This will hopefully encourage the public to value their health and raise further awareness of these diseases, and brokers should use these campaigns as a platform to hold difficult, but necessary, discussions with their clients about critical illness cover.

Mark Holweger is managing director, partnerships - Legal & General Insurance