Cancer: Adding another level of cover would make the product 'too complex'
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) will not be introducing two levels of cancer cover when it updates the Statement of Best Practice on critical illness (CI) insurance later this spring.
The revelation came as the ABI announced new measures to make the process of buying CI insurance, income protection and private medical insurance (PMI) clearer for consumers and intermediaries.
According to Nick Kirwan, chairman of the ABI CI working party, the decision was taken after several key industry figures expressed concern that having two levels of cancer cover would add another layer of complexity to CI.
He said: "The CI working party decided not to go ahead with the two levels of cancer cover following feedback from the industry, with some people raising concern that it could make the product more complex."
The working party announced the decision ahead of publishing the complete revised Statement of Best Practice on CI.
Kirwan said: "As we came to a conclusion that we would not go ahead with the tiered cancer proposal it seemed wrong to hold back that information.
"However, when it comes to the rest of the CI statement we are still working through the finer details and we are not ready to announce the definitions yet.
"The final statement will probably be published by the end of March or April, but we don't have a fixed date yet."
In an attempt to make sales of protection products and health insurance clearer, the ABI has also announced that clear warnings about non-disclosure should feature on application forms, that memory tests should not be used for minor ailments and that PMI leaflets should more clearly explain which treatments will be covered for different illnesses.
