CI: ABI working party meets to discuss proposed review of CI definitions
Members of the Association of British Insurers' (ABI) critical illness (CI) working party have met to discuss changes to the current ABI CI definitions. The ABI workshop, The future of critical illness insurance, heard opinions from across the protection industry on new research and potential medical developments ahead of the formal consultation scheduled for May.
"The purpose of the consultation will be to future proof products and insulate definitions from medical advances," revealed Nick Kirwan, chairman of the ABI CI working party. "The aim of the workshop was to share knowledge and research and talk to the medical profession before any conclusions are reached," he said.
Although Kirwan maintained that all definitions were up for discussion during the workshop, he hinted that the definition of stroke could well be changed at the consultation stage.
"We associate stroke with impaired speech and the loss of muscle control. However, a mild stroke that kills a number of brain cells but has a negligible impact on a patient's standard of living, is still covered under the existing definition," he said. The current definition of stroke in the ABI Statement of Best Practice for critical illness cover is 'a cerebrovascular incident resulting in permanent neurological damage."
Protection intermediaries have reacted positively to the workshop. "We need to make sure critical illness claims are based on severity of impact to lifestyle and eliminate windfall claims," said Jason King, managing director at Life Policies Direct. "If critical illness is to survive in its current format then windfall claims have to be minimised and that is what the working party is looking to address."
The statement was last updated in 2002. Then, definitions of prostate cancer were tightened and heart attack definitions were widened to include results from troponin tests. Last year, doctors hit out at the ABI claiming that CI definitions were out of date and needed alteration to take account of medical developments. One doctor even called for the abolition of the definitions altogether.
Richard Walsh, head of health at the ABI, confirmed that the final consultation should "theoretically" go ahead as planned in May, although he stressed: "It is more important that we get it right than risk hurrying the process just to keep to the May deadline."
The revised Statement of Best Practice is expected to be published approximately three months after the consultation.
