CIExpert gives its view on the latest critical illness changes from Legal & Genera..
Legal and General has made a number of changes to its critical illness offering.
The majority of the changes refer to alterations mirroring the ABI Statement of Best Practice model wordings with one new condition being added and one condition being uplifted.
New Condition
Spinal Stroke
Full payment will be made if undergoing a spinal stroke causing at least 24 hours of neurological deficit. Spinal strokes account for a little over 1% of all strokes with the risk increasing with age and a bias towards males.
Improved Condition
Motor Neurone Disease
This claim definition extends beyond the ABI model wording to accommodate claims for Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
While a welcome enhancement around 100 children each year are born with the condition therefore the exclusion for conditions present at birth reduces the scope for a claim.
The adult form of Spinal Muscular Atrophy is also known as Kennedy's Disease, a condition currently included by Old Mutual.
Conditions adopting the new ABI Model Wordings
Benign Brain Tumour - Now specifically excludes tumours originating from bone tissue
Cancer - Wording adjustment with no impact on claims
Coma - Medically induced coma's are now specifically excluded
Heart Attack - Additional wording clarity with no impact on claims
Kidney Failure - Another instance of tidying up the claim definition with no impact on potential claims
Major Organ Transplant - Specifies a transplant must be from another donor and also excludes non-human transplants
Parkinson's Disease - Requirement for postural instability has been removed and Parkinsonism has been specifically excluded.
Stroke - Eye strokes and death of tissue of the optic nerve are now specifically excluded
Traumatic Brain Injury - Formerly known as Traumatic Head Injury, this condition has been renamed to support greater clarity
CIExpert's Verdict
Alan Lakey, director of CIExpert said: "The alterations are relatively modest and have limited impact on Legal & General's position within the critical illness arena.
"Legal & General is the leading office in terms of policies sold which reflects its strategy of obtaining business from advisers, tied bancassurers and direct sales.
"The company has focused as much on premium and name awareness as on the quality of it's offering and given the volume of business generated, who is to say that this is wrong?"