Royal London has included the option of total permanent disability on its critical illness cover and added three payment definitions.
The additional payment definitions are benign spinal cord tumour resulting in permanent symptoms or specified treatment, brain injury due to anoxia or hypoxia resulting in permanent symptoms or specified treatment, and ulcerative colitis when treated with total colectomy.
In addition, the insurer has upgraded its existing definition for angioplasty with specified treatment.
Toby Bainbridge, reinsurance manager at Royal London, said: “Making total permanent disability optional provides customers with more flexibility and ensures cover can be better tailored to their needs. The new and upgraded definitions provide better outcomes for customers and enable us to pay more claims.”
Alan Lakey, director at Hertfordshire-based CIExpert, commented: “Unlike other markets, critical illness never stands still, with insurers constantly looking to leapfrog the opposition or steal an advantage with some unique, often meaningless, condition.
"A state of perpetual change serves to confuse those advisers who do not use a comprehensive comparison system.
“Whilst somewhat modest, these improvements keep Royal London within the higher echelons in terms of quality. None of the improvements are unique but they add to the robustness of the coverage, and this is always welcome.”
simon.allin@ft.com
