Good-news stories do not feature prominently in the critical illness (CI) market. There are more col...
Good-news stories do not feature prominently in the critical illness (CI) market. There are more column inches devoted to what is wrong with the business than what is right. But one of the positive things about being involved in developing CI products is hearing the good-news stories of people whose recovery from serious illness has been helped by having cover in place.
According to reinsurer Swiss Re, there are about three million CI policies in force, most of which were written alongside mortgages. IFA sales have increased year-on-year, with more than 250,000 policies being sold by IFAs in 1999. However, sales of CI insurance are still nowhere near those of life policies.
Last year sales of CI policies were outstripped by life cover by a ratio of four to one, even though the statistical likelihood of suffering a critical illness - a one in three chance - is now well known.
Insurance in action
When discussing CI insurance with a prospective client, it often helps an IFA's cause if they can show it 'in action'. Unfortunately, for many people who suffer a critical illness the trauma and often protracted course of treatment that follows mean that they are not well enough to talk publicly about their illness or to cope with the publicity their story might generate. So unless the IFA has a client who has previously claimed, highlighting CI insurance in action can be difficult.
There are people, however, who have benefited and who want to spread the word. Despite still being seriously ill, Chris Perrott, for example, recognised that he was lucky to benefit from CI insurance and to survive his illness. He has now made it his business to spread the word about CI cover.
Perrott has set up the Chris Perrott Critical Illness Trust and an accompanying website, www.critiltrust.org.uk. The website aims to become the Yellow Pages of CI insurance, a source of a wide range of information on obtaining cover and on treating critical illness.
For a fee of £250, an IFA can become a member of the trust and their details will appear on its website. Those logging on to the site can key in the area in which they live and get details of CI IFAs in their area. Product providers can also act as sponsors.
Perrott has produced a leaflet that describes the trust and its aims. It also explains, in general terms, what critical illness insurance is. The leaflet describes 'financial cancer', the erosion of finances that can force a reduction in a person's standard of living if they have to stop work to fight serious illness. IFA members of the trust can get supplies of the leaflet free of charge.
Formerly an IFA himself, Perrott was diagnosed with myeloma, an incurable bone marrow cancer, three years ago. The outlook was so bad that, at one stage, he was given only a few months to live.
Fortunately, he had CI insurance and this, together with the proceeds from the sale of his business, gave him and his wife financial security. It meant he could devote his energies to fighting his illness rather than worrying that he could not work and that his income might dry up.
The Critical Illness Trust aims to:
l Raise money to buy equipment, facilities and services for critically ill people.
l Increase awareness of critical illness insurance.
l Increase the awareness of the need for organ donors.
Raising money
The money raised by the trust is being used to buy kidney dialysis machines. But as each machine can treat only four to six people, there are patients awaiting dialysis whose only hope is a machine becoming vacant because someone has had a transplant or has died. As a result of his illness, Perrott's life too is dependent on the availability of such machines.
According to the the National Kidney Research Fund:
l Every year in the UK, 7,000 people die of renal failure.
l Kidney disease affects all age groups and each year an additional 80 people in every million will need dialysis.
l Approximately 30% of those with diabetes will develop renal failure.
l Treatment costs the NHS nearly £2bn each year.
l There is an acute shortage of transplant organs.
l About 23,000 people are currently being treated for kidney problems in the UK.
Much of the equipment at Perrott's local hospital is already paid for by charities and by private donation and he is determined to do whatever he can to improve the availability of equipment for people who suffer a critical illness in future.
The more Perrott raises for the trust, the more publicity he gets, the more potential it has to benefit the IFAs who take the opportunity to support the trust.
Lynda Cox is life marketing manager at Skandia Life
