Ropner Insurance Services Group Cancer Cover
Ropner is a Lloyd’s broker and this new plan offers a simple way for employers to offer cancer-only cover to employees.
The policy has a fixed benefit of £25,000 and pays out on diagnosis of specific cancers once the insured life has survived for 30 days. The annual cost varies from £9.34 for employees aged under 25 up to £280.93 a year for those aged between 60 and 64.
There must be at least 25 members in the scheme.
Comment: Many firms like the idea of offering critical illness (CI) insurance to their employees, but such cover can be complex as well as expensive. Although cancer survival rates are generally improving year by year, the Big C is still a major health worry for many people. If cancer is diagnosed, £25,000 buys a lot of treatment or covers a lot of expenses – with how it is spent being entirely up to the diagnosed employee.
That’s an attractive proposition for many people, especially as the annual cost is low (particularly at young ages). Is this better than having full CI cover? No – but arguably this plan covers a different market, being both simpler and cheaper. We haven’t seen full product details but assuming the policy does not cover conditions such as benign brain cancer, we would suggest adding that when the product is updated.
Cancer cover for a fixed small-ish sum (although don’t underestimate just how valuable £25K can be in such situations, and it is more than a year’s salary for the average man or woman) is not an ideal solution, but it is a lot better than nothing and may encourage employees to look at their wider needs too and perhaps add some personal CI cover if they can afford it.
Plus points: Simple cancer-only cover; Low cost (especially at young ages); Low underwriting hurdles; Easy to buy.
Not so plus points: Many people’s lives can be devastated financially by critical illnesses other than cancer so this type of cover does not replace the need for full CI cover.
Website: http://www.ropnerins.co.uk.
Rating (max 10): Innovation: 7. Overall: 7. Silver
Tags: Other; Ropner Insurance Services