Adam Saville: The most-read articles of 2020

To kick things off for 2021, here is a breakdown of the most-read articles on the COVER site from last year. We had more than one million page views in total during the course of 2020 and below you can find each highest scoring article ranked in order.

Our two most popular stories were related to the government's self-employed income support scheme, perhaps helped somewhat by favourable Google search engine results.

On the health insurance side, last year kicked off in relatively normal fashion, with Bupa announcing its ‘Is it normal?' mental health TV ad campaign, a question which we all found ourselves asking when the world was seemingly turned upside down a few months later. Interestingly, the private medical insurance provider followed with part two, which asked 'What is normal now?' in light of Covid-19.

As you'd expect, it was the coronavirus virus and the subsequent pandemic that scored the lion's share of the COVER traffic in 2020, something explored in detail as early as February by Vitality's John Downes' monthly column about underwriting considerations for specific conditions. His follow-up focus on Covid-19 and respiratory conditions, which marginally missed out on a top 10 placing, is also well worth (re)checking out.

My market reaction piece to the outbreak, written all the way back in January last year, just as Covid-19 was beginning to set foot on European soil, makes for interesting (if not ignorant) reading 12 months on, offering a reminder of how much we've learnt about the novel virus - and of how much our lives have been so dramatically altered - in such a relatively short amount of time.

The protection industry's signposting agreement signed in January was another big story for 2020 and one of the year's few positives. It set the agenda for the decade ahead and helped spur our ongoing access to insurance ‘Sign up to Signposting' campaign.

It is therefore fitting that an equally top scoring article was Aviva's recent underwriting changes to improve access to insurance following the underwriting restrictions brought in due to coronavirus earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Aviva's new DigiCare+ added value service offering focus on prevention, reported on first by COVER at the end of September, narrowly missed out on a spot in the list below.

Our round-up of all the changes made to income protection propositions at the start of the pandemic also ranked highly, while on the proposition side, AIG's radical overhaul of its critical illness product - another story broken by COVER - was without doubt the biggest CI update of 2020.

The top 50 most-read articles of last year can be found ranked in order below.

1. Govt. opens self-employed income support scheme (4 May)
2. Self-employed income support scheme extended (1 June)
3. Bupa launches mental health TV ad campaign (10 January)
4. SPOTLIGHT: Coronavirus (26 February)
5. Coronavirus outbreak: Market reaction (27 January)
6. Protection industry unites for signposting agreement (21 January)
7. Aviva makes underwriting changes to improve access to insurance (3 December)
8. Coronavirus: Income protection round-up (18 March)
9. Woman found guilty of sawing off own hand for pay-out (14 September)
10. AIG Life overhauls critical illness to 'avoid unwanted complexity' (19 October)
11. Prevention at heart of Aviva protection revamp (30 September)
12. SPOTLIGHT: Respiratory diseases & Covid-19 (30 March)
13. Alan Lakey: Avoiding cancellations during Covid-19 (9 April)
14. Vitality opens telephone GP access for Covid-19 (9 March)
15. Life in lockdown (and the fear of returning to normal) (19 May)
16. CIExpert: AIG product design is 'revolutionary' (19 October)
17. AXA PPP healthcare unveils Covid-19 measures (8 April)
18. COVER Excellence Awards: Provider shortlist announced! (23 July)
19. Scottish Widows overhauls critical illness (27 January)
20. Alan Lakey: What will COVID-19 mean for protection advisers? (26 March)
21. Which PMI insurers offer Covid-19 testing - and how? (17 September)
22. Dean Mason has passed away due to Covid-19 (6 April)
23. Covid-19 mortality rates: Looking for perspective (23 April)
24. Brave new world: Emerging risks in 2020 (21 January)
25. Updated: What changes have insurers made due to Covid-19? (6 May)
26. Sourcing life insurance for transgender clients (7 February)
27. Outdated CI policy leaves lady unable to claim (28 July)
28. Coronavirus: Income protection enquiries 'spike' (3 March)
29. Which insurers are carrying out remote screenings? (14 April)
30. COVER Customer Care Awards: All winners revealed! (15 July)
31. Rose St Louis: Why our industry needs to talk about race (22 July)
32. CS Healthcare to transfer business to Bupa (4 August)
33. 'Significantly' less claims from those who engage in healthier lifestyles (1 October)
34. Daniel Sharpe-Szunko: The impact of Covid-19 on underwriting limits (14 July)
35. Client left uninsurable after GP report delayed 10 months (26 October)
36. Coronavirus could claim more than 500,000 UK lives (13 March)
37. VitalityLife announces Covid-19 premium reduction (16 April)
38. AIG Life to withdraw over 50s life plan (25 April)
39. Now Healthcare Group closure due to Aviva contract loss (10 June)
40. Simplyhealth to offer Covid-19 antibody testing (6 July)
41. LV= taking 'pragmatic' approach to coronavirus (9 March)
42. Full market round-up: Critical illness claims stats 2019 (3 July)
43. Which life insurers are offering Covid-19 financial help? (27 May)
44. Legal & General launches 'long Covid' early intervention (3 November)
45. LV= responds to sale of life and pensions rumour (15 June)
46. Rose St Louis joins KPMG as insurance director (13 January)
47. How IP is poised to protect the rental market (2 March)
48. Some life applications 'postponed' due to Covid-19 (5 March)
49. Matthew Chapman's 12 rules to protection income (1 June)
50. CQC: Teladoc Health in breach of regulation (9 December)

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