ACE Sickpay Plus
ACE’s Sickpay Plus is a sickness and accident policy with a choice of deferred periods. The plan is underwritten by Ace European Group Ltd.
The plan is available to UK employees, through their employer, who are aged 18-65 at outset.
Underwriting is interesting in that the price of the plan depends on benefits chosen plus the customer’s age, occupation, salary, smoking status and BMI (body mass index). The underwriting process appears to take a few days, with cover only starting approximately ten days after the application form is completed. Pre-existing conditions are excluded (looking back one year, with a two year rolling moratorium). Cover ceases at age 70.
Maximum benefit is £1,800 a month or around 50% of gross monthly income, with the insured benefit being in £200 tranches, from £400 to £1,800 a month. Benefits are paid for up to two, four or eight months and initial waiting periods are either seven or 30 days, with benefits paid back to day one. All benefits are in addition to any Statutory Sick Pay paid and are paid tax free.
Benefits are paid for up to two months for category A conditions (in effect, all conditions stopping the customer from working), for up to four months for category B conditions (those that require hospitalisation, such as bone fractures, inpatient admissions and daypatient surgery), and up to eight months for category C conditions (serious conditions such as cancer, stroke, heart attack and limb paralysis but also including a slipped disc and fractures of the hip or spine).
Ace reserves the right to cancel the policy at 30 days’ notice.
Comment: This is a simple sickness and accident policy, designed to enable employees to buy some cover to top-up their SSP benefits. We haven’t seen any prices, but would expect them to be very low, partly because the benefit period is also very low. In some cases the customer would only get benefit for up to two months, even if their condition keeps them off work for much longer. Even for the most serious conditions the maximum period is just eight months, shorter than the 12 months most ASU policies would pay out for. Long term income protection would of course pay out for considerably longer but would likely cost more too.
There may be a market for this plan to supplement other cover but, on its own, it appears to offer too little cover and few other benefits to be of much appeal.
Plus points: Simple sickness and accident cover targeted at employers to make available to their employees; Cover can last to age 70; Some attempt to link benefits to severity; Likely to be very inexpensive .
Not so plus points: Over-complex in that the maximum benefit period depends on the nature of the condition, regardless of how long it keeps the customer off work; Some conditions could see benefit paid for just two months at most; Premiums are higher for smokers and those with higher BMIs.
Website: http://www.acegroup.com.
Rating (max 10): Innovation: 6. Overall: 5. Bronze
Tags: Ace; ASU