BUPA has become the latest insurer to offer a menu-based protection product and is set to launch th...
BUPA has become the latest insurer to offer a menu-based protection product and is set to launch the new suite of financial protection products in mid-November.
Marketed as BUPA Flexible Financial Protection, the plan covers any combination of life cover, standalone critical illness, income protection and accelerated critical illness.
The principle of this approach is that clients can include any or all of the options in their policy and will benefit from the use of the BUPA Healthline service, which gives clients access to 24-hour medical information from qualified nurses.
Discussing the reasons behind the repackaging, Brian Bartley, head of operations at BUPA, said: 'We have been listening to what our customers and intermediaries have been telling us about what the market wants, and the way the product is constructed is predominantly a response to what we heard. We have organised a menu-based approach, which allows clients to mix and match benefits. It gives the built-in flexibility to allow the cover to change over time as peoples' circumstances change. Another result of consultation is that we will be using multiple product application forms.'
BUPA has previously offered life cover as part of an accelerated critical illness plan, but it is now offered as a standalone product and includes a terminal illness benefit as standard.
Commenting on this, Bartley said: 'The inclusion of life cover is in response to intermediaries' comments. We have had standalone group cover for a while and as an add-on to individual critical illness, but it was clear from comments that we had to make them more flexible.'
