Impartial reviews on the latest products and how they can impact consumers.
May 2012 Simplyhealth: HCP
Simplyhealth has added a new, fifth, option to its company paid health cash plan (HCP) Simply Cash Plan. The new option, called PMI Excess Cover, does exactly that. Three levels of cover are available. Level 1 pays up to £100 and costs 25p per employee per week. Level 2 costs 50p for £200 of cover and Level 3 costs 75p a week for £300 of cover. So, if an employee has to claim on their PMI excess more than once every four years, the benefit will pay for itself. The new module is an add-on to the existing proposition which…
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May 2012 LV=: CI | Menu
LV= has added ten new conditions, increased the number of ABI+ definitions by seven and added five new partial payments under the critical illness element of its Flexible Protection Plan. This is a guaranteed or reviewable premium plan which can also include life cover and income protection. The conditions now covered, divided by type of condition covered, are: • Standard ABI (Association of British Insurers) definitions. Blindness; deafness; kidney failure; loss of speech; motor neurone disease; terminal illness, and traumatic head injury. • ABI+ conditions (here the definition is wider than the standard ABI definition and so is more generous).…
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May 2012 Legal & General: ASU
Legal & General has launched a short term income protection plan, naming it Lifestyle Cover (it is interesting that some in the industry are now arguing words like ‘lifestyle’ are a better descriptor than ‘income protection’). However, we would call this cover ASU (accident, sickness and unemployment). The policy is an annually renewable policy that, like conventional IP, has a benefit linked to the customer’s income rather than to any particular expenditure (an obvious point to those familiar with IP, but not necessarily one that IP or ASU potential customers would be aware of). The maximum monthly benefit is the…
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May 2012 AXA PPP healthcare: iPMI
AXA PPP International was set up in 2009 and Prestige Plus is its new top of the range international medical insurance plan. Designed for individuals or groups, it provides a wide range of benefits including cover for: • Chronic conditions such as cancer and diabetes. • Palliative care to prolong life or relieve symptoms. • Up to £12,000 (or the equivalent in US dollars or Euros) for pregnancy and childbirth. • Up to £200 a year towards the cost of prescription glasses or contact lenses. • Up to £2,000 for out of area cover for emergency out-patient treatment received in…
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April 2012 Paycare: HCP
Paycare’s new Go is a health cash plan aimed exclusively at young adults aged 18-24 (24 years three months at outset). The thinking behind the plan is that age 18 is when many previously ‘free’ NHS benefits stop. For example, young people (unless in full-time education or otherwise exempt or sometimes depending on which UK country they live in) are no longer entitled to free prescriptions, eyecare or dentistry after age 18 (or in some cases later). Despite the potential effect on their budgeting, most young adults are likely to have little or low income and so any unexpected bill…
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