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October 2019 Lime: Other

Lime is an online insurance provider founded on the principle of delivering universal access to much-needed insurance products, it says. Launched in February 2019, Lime currently offers this product plus an accidental death policy, (underwritten at Lloyd’s) but says more products are in the pipeline.

This policy is underwritten by Aviva and is a direct-to-consumer version of its Cancer Essentials product, which we reviewed back in 2016.

Premiums are low, starting from £2.03 a month for an 18-year-old non-smoker, or £3.16 per month for a 37-year-old non-smoker. Cover is available to age 70.

The annually renewable policy pays up to £100,000 for the cost of drugs recommended by the patient’s NHS specialist but not funded by their NHS health trust. In addition, on diagnosis of cancer, a one-off cash benefit of £5,000 is payable. There is also a cancer helpline giving advice and information through trained specialists.

Most people can get cover, but Lime says customers cannot be covered if they have had cancer within the past ten years. The plan does not pay out on non-melanoma skin cancer and prostate cancer with no active treatment recommended.

Comment: Lime is a new name, offering fresh approach to protection cover, and we can expect to see it launch more products in due course.

This is a D2C version of an Aviva plan we reviewed back in 2016 and offers help and support plus a small (£5K) cash lump sum on diagnosis of cancer. In addition it pays up to £100K for licenced but not NHS funded cancer drugs – although most people with cancer will probably not need that.

Disappointingly, we could only find out about exactly what is and isn’t covered by looking not at Lime’s website but at Aviva’s.  Hopefully that is something Lime will address as all consumers deserve to know what they are buying before they buy it or even actively considering buying. The plan could appeal, particularly to younger people, but it’s not really an alternative to more comprehensive critical illness cover.

Plus points: A simple cancer-only proposition; Low cost cover; Underwritten by Aviva; The drug benefit is unusual .

Not so plus points: Not a totally new product; The lump sum diagnosis benefit is low; Not an alternative to CI cover; Annually renewable; premiums are subject to IPT.

Website: http://www.limeinsurance.com.

Rating (max 10): Overall: 7. Silver

Tags: Other; Lime