Rising to the Care Challenge

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Rising to the Care Challenge

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The Care Act, which will be introduced in April 2016, will cap the cost of care at £72,000, although this will not include food or accommodation. This still leaves substantial potential costs for anyone in need of care due to age-related or degenerative diseases.

And care is not the first thing that comes to mind when talking to your clients about retirement and planning for the future. They’re probably thinking post-retirement, that once the mortgage is paid off and the kids have left home, the only costs to consider might be looking into winter holidays in the sun, or their annual health club membership. They have probably not considered that the cost of care will be one of the biggest potential money pits in later years.

This is where the insurance industry comes in and should be responding to the Government’s call to action to create new products. I am pleased to say that VitalityLife is leading the way with our new LifestyleCare Cover that’s been designed to help cover some of the costs of these later life conditions. It offers Whole of Life cover, with early access to funds if they develop a degenerative disease and can no longer look after themselves.The potential acceleration of the Whole of Life benefit means that a 45-year-old is expected to claim about nine years earlier with LifestyleCare cover than if they had a standalone Whole of Life policy.

Certainly I hope this new product will help advisers open up a conversation about care needs by exploring if clients would like the flexibility to draw down on their Whole of Life cover if they become less able to look after themselves. In fact, a new poll from the Protection Review suggests that many advisers agree, with 75% believing this new category of later life products will help grow the market.

The industry definitely has more work to do in raising awareness on care,but it feels like we are making some real progress even before the Government’s new Care Act has come into effect. Key to the success will be the Government, insurers and advisers working together, to help solve one of the greatest challenges in our society today.

Talking about later life needs is not always easy, but I believe VitalityLife can help you change the conversation with the added rewards and incentives to get active, eat well and reduce unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, Vitality LifestyleCare Cover also helps people to stay healthier in the first place. So your clients can reduce the risk of developing age-related illnesses and/or delay their onset. Which means you can talk about the good things, not just the bad, making it a much easier conversation.

This all links back to the belief we have in the power of sport to help inspire people to live a healthy life and is the reason behind our growing sponsorship portfolio. We have recently revealed Vitality as the sponsor of Sky Sports ICC Cricket World Cup programming, which some of you may have already seen. And we’re making the most of the RBS 6 Nations coverage as the Official Wellness Partner of England Rugby, Scottish Rugby and the Welsh Rugby Union.

All this helps to boost the profile of health and life insurance and, at the same time, helps you have easier protection conversations with your clients.

Justin Taurog is managing director of Vitality Life