Guardian today (16 May) entered the protection arena with a product advisers said was certain to shake-up the market.
The policy offers 72 critical conditions of which 51 are 100 per cent payment conditions and 21 pay the lower of £50,000 or 25 per cent of the sum of critical illness insurance.
In addition, the plan includes terminal illness cover and permanent and total disability protection.
Waiver of premium is automatically included within each plan.
Of particular note is the promise that when a critical illness claim wording is improved the better of the definitions will be used to assess any future claim.
There may be occasions where such an upgrade results in an increase to the premium, in these instances Guardian will offer the upgrade as an option.
The new policies will pay out when a consultant says a patient has had a heart attack, rather than requiring further tests, and will pay out on a stroke if symptoms have lasted more than 24 hours and a consultant says a stroke has occurred, rather than requiring a scan.
Simon Davis, chief executive of Guardian, said the policies would be better for customers, preventing uncertainty at difficult times.
He said: "The single most important thing about a protection policy is that it pays out.
"If someone has a critical illness policy they quite rightly expect it to cover them if their consultant says they have had a heart attack. They don't want any anxiety over whether their diagnosis is eligible."
The new policy range will be distributed solely through advisers, using a platform called Protection Builder.
Individual cover is available that can be combined within one policy, with discounts for multi-life and multi-cover.
Fracture cover and children's critical illness are optional extras, while customers can automatically nominate beneficiaries within the process of buying the cover.
Alan Lakey, founder of CI Expert, said the product was "certain to shake-up the market," and praised its jargon-free definitions.
He said: "Even some advisers are scared to sell critical illness cover because of the medical definitions. They aren't doctors."
He said one of the best things about the policy was the promise that when a critical illness claim wording is improved the better of the definitions will be used to assess any future claim.
Lucy Brown, head of protection at L&C Mortgages, said it was great to see a new entrant in the protection market, especially one that comes free of legacy systems and with a desire to bring some new ideas to the market.
"Guardian's aim to provide something different rather than a 'me too' approach is welcome and its clear and transparent proposition will hopefully provide better outcomes for our customers.
"For example, its focus on the clarity of definitions should make for a better customer understanding of their policies and help deliver a successful claims experience over time.
"We also like the ability to flex the amount of cover and the policies that the customer holds within the first two years, which should allow advisers to engage with customers around their broader protection needs and ultimately increase the number of families we protect."
rosie.murray-west@ft.com
