MetLife MultiProtect
MultiProtect plan is a new accident and hospital cover solution designed to help individuals and families to strengthen their financial safety net from a company best known for its group risk products. The new plan can also complement more traditional protection insurance products, effectively extending the range of cover.
The plan is priced from £7 a month, with customers choosing to have from one (£7pm) to five (£35pm) ‘units’ of cover. Each unit of cover provides:
A cash lump sum of £500 for a major broken bone. That is, arm; back; neck; hip; pelvis; cranium; mandible; shoulder, or wrist.
£100 for each minor bone broken (except for broken noses, which are excluded).
£50 per 24 hour stay in a UK hospital due to accident or sickness. This benefit only applies once the policy has been running for 12 months.
£50,000 on accidental death or total permanent disability (TPD). Lower sums are payable, on a sliding scale, for other conditions e.g. £40,000 per unit for blindness down to £2,500 per unit for the loss of a finger or toe. In total there are 15 different injury categories plus TPD.
Funeral benefit of £1,000 on death. This also only applies after one year and, in the first year, a refund of premiums is paid instead.
In addition to the above, customers can add child cover, at a cost of £1 a month per unit. This benefit covers all children and again there is a sliding scale of benefits. The benefit pays £5,000 per unit on TPD, accidental death or cancer diagnosis, down to £40 per unit for a minor broken bone and £20 per 24 hour period in hospital.
A second optional cover is only available to UK healthcare workers and also costs £1 per month per unit. This benefit pays £10,000 per unit on HIV, septicaemia caused by MRSA, or hepatitis C and £2,500 for tuberculosis, hepatitis B, or clostridium difficile infection. In all cases, the condition must come from occupational exposure.
Customers must be UK resident and aged 18 to 60 at outset, and cover can continue up to age 70. Children are covered from age six months to age 18, or to age 23 if in full time education. Underwriting is minimal, with no health questions and premiums are not dependent on age or health. However, the plan is not available to people in some occupations. The whole application process should take around four minutes online MetLife says.
Multiple claims can be made under the policy but MetLife can change the policy terms at 30 days’ notice. Exclusions under the plan are fairly typical for sickness and accident type cover.
In terms of marketing literature, there is a seven page brochure and a 20 page combined policy summary and terms and conditions.
Comment: MetLife is pitching this plan at the UK’s large (four and a half million plus) and growing self-employed workforce who don’t have access to benefits from their employer. It should also appeal to anyone who wants accident cover (and a bit more) either standalone or as an add-on to other protection insurances. In effect, the plan provides cashflow when it’s needed e.g. after breaking an arm say.
The plan is simple, modular and has kept options to a minimum. There are no health questions to worry about and though some occupations won’t be accepted, the vast majority will, so that shouldn’t be an issue for most.
One advantage of writing the plan as a long term product is that there is no IPT on the premiums. However, MetLife can change the policy terms at short notice – but then that would be standard if it were a short term general insurance plan anyway. One other downside is that the plan focuses on financial benefits and there appears to be little in the way of third party benefits such as helplines.
Plus points: Simple accident insurance in a modular form; Minimal underwriting and no health questions or age ratings; Quick and easy to buy; Written as a long term policy, so no IPT on premiums; Useful as an add-on to other protection policies; Children’s cover can run to 23 if in full time education (more realistic than the traditional age 21 cut-off).
Not so plus points: Policy terms can be changed at just 30 days’ notice; Some occupations not accepted; Not a replacement for other types of protection; Little in the way of third party benefits; Cancer cover for children but not for adults.
Website: http://www.metlife.co.uk.
Rating (max 10): Innovation: 8. Overall: 8. Gold
Tags: Other; MetLife