Aviva has amended its life assurance and critical illness plans, extending children’s cover and removing HIV as a condition.
The insurer has added five conditions to the upgraded options on its products, an adult condition, adult payment condition and three children’s conditions.
Upgraded adult critical illness benefit now covers the treatment of a brain abscess, with 100 per cent payment, and less severe third degree burns with a maximum of £25,000 or the cover amount.
Aviva will now pay hospital benefit under its upgraded adult plan, with a payment of £100 per night for clients who stay in hospital for more than seven consecutive nights to a maximum of £3,000.
The cover of a brain abscess and third degree burns have also been added to Aviva’s upgraded children’s policy, along with Diabetes mellitus Type 1 on which the insurer offers a £25,000 fixed payment.
The age limit under children’s cover meanwhile has been extended from 18 years to 22 years, irrespective of whether they are in full-time education.
Mark Cracknell, head of protection distribution at Aviva, said: "These critical illness enhancements add to our already comprehensive suite of protection products, and come at a time when we are running a number of initiatives and campaigns to provide advisers with tools and support to help them develop and grow their protection business."
Alan Lakey, director at CIExpert, said Aviva had been at pains to regularly update its critical illness plans to retain its status.
He said: "Aviva has been offering top quality critical illness products since its absorption of Friends Life and these upgrades are valuable and serve to reinforce Aviva’s position as a market leader."
The removal of HIV is noteworthy -very few claims have been successful because the claims requirements are severe and are seen by some as discriminatory...Alan LakeyAviva has also removed HIV as a condition from its critical illness and life assurance policies, aligning with the revised approach published by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) earlier this year.
In May, the ABI published a 29-page guide to minimum standards for critical illness cover outlining its expectations of providers in assisting consumers in understanding and comparing critical illness policies.
Mr Lakey said the removal of HIV was "noteworthy".
He said: "The removal of HIV is noteworthy - very few claims have been successful because the claims requirements are severe and are seen by some as discriminatory
"Aviva is not addicted to playing the condition numbers game and, mindful of the comments within the recent ABI Guide to Minimum Standards for Critical Illness Cover, has chosen to remove the condition."
Adam Higgs, head of research in adviser services at F&TRC, said: "In my experience Aviva do not just add conditions to extend the number of definitions they offer, but learn from their vast claims experience to add conditions that consumers can claim on."
Mr Higgs said Aviva had recently "fallen behind" the market in terms of children’s critical illness, particularly because they had a child exclusion on their Diabetes Type 1 definition.
He said: "This, thankfully, has now been removed, opening the definition to the upgraded children’s proposition.
"This, along with the increase in the age of children’s cover to 22, means that the Aviva upgraded product now offers extremely comprehensive cover for both adults and children."
rachel.addison@ft.com
