Friends Life's Mark Cracknell discusses Extra Care Cover.
Your clients' critical illness cover is vital in reducing the financial impact of illness or injury on their lives - supporting them to return to, or retain, the desired ‘normality' in their day to day living.
In the most severe of cases where an illness has a life-changing impact, a much larger adjustment, and therefore more financial support, may be needed to bring comfort to their lives.
Making provision for these severe illnesses or injuries can make setting the required benefit amount more difficult, and could prompt some to increase cover to protect against these minority events - incurring an increased premium as a result.
We considered this impact on our customers and as a result introduced extra care cover.
This cover provides a payment of £50,000 paid in addition to the main sum assured, where the client suffers a critical illness or total permanent disability and is left with severe, permanent symptoms.
In such situations this cover will provide a much needed additional benefit for expenses such as:
• home adaptions
• employing professional help around the home
• further treatment or care not available through the NHS
• moving into a specialist care home.
The Extra Care Cover benefit is delivered in two ways, either at the point of the successful Critical Illness claim or 12 months after, dependent upon the how the illness or condition has progressed.
While the severity and life changing nature of conditions was our driver for introducing this benefit, it is also designed to respond when a condition is diagnosed at a relatively young age, for example dementia under the age of 50. Again, the purpose is to provide additional assistance to cope with the necessary adjustments to the client's daily living - beyond what would be required for the majority of claims.
Extra care cover helps by building in another level benefit, offering peace of mind in the most extreme cases - the kind of protection and peace of mind you have come to expect from Friends Life.
To find out more visit advisers.friendslife.co.uk/ecc
Mark Cracknell is Head of Protection Distribution at Friends Life
