Vitality Serious Illness Cover
VitalityLife has relaunched its Serious Illness Cover plan, with new conditions, plus enhanced existing definitions and simplified the structure. The main changes include:
Primary Cover. The number of severity levels has been increased. Also, more than 35 new definitions have been added. These include borderline ovarian cancer and blindness in one eye. Many of these 35 definitions are unique to VitalityLife, the insurer says.
Comprehensive Cover. Now automatically includes VitalityLife’s unique Cancer Relapse Benefit. This pays out on all subsequent cancer claims and boosts the payout on subsequent cancer claims by 50%. VitalityLife says this not only simplifies Comprehensive Cover but also means customers will receive unique coverage for the recurrence of cancer at no additional cost.
New definitions. Seven new definitions have been added to both Primary and Comprehensive Cover. The new conditions include Parkinson’s plus syndromes, carcinoma in situ (treated with surgery to remove the tumour) and bacterial meningitis. The insurer says some of these conditions were already covered under Comprehensive Cover at a lower severity, but will now be covered on both Primary and Comprehensive with a higher payout.
Enhancements to existing definitions. Thirteen existing definitions have been enhanced, including skin cancer and lumpectomy for carcinoma in situ of the breast.
In addition to these changes, some definitions such as lumpectomy for carcinoma in situ of the breast and keyhole coronary artery bypass surgery have had an increase in their severity category, resulting in an increased payout.
Comment: Vitality has a well-deserved reputation for innovation and these latest changes continue that tradition. Widening cover simply means even more serious illnesses and critical illnesses are covered, while adding simplification is good for customers – and advisers - too.
Plus points: Cover has been improved and widened; Some simplification too; Vitality’s philosophy rewards and incentivises customers in other ways as well.
Not so plus points: Serious Illness still remains quite a complex proposition; Not everyone buys the Vitality philosophy; Vitality needs to be careful in that if it is perceived to be making too many changes too frequently, it could lose the goodwill of some advisers .
Website: http://www.vitality.co.uk
Rating (max 10): Innovation: 9. Overall: 8.5. Gold
Tags: CI; VitalityLife