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A new manual for "Dread Disease" insurance products

  • For ensuring against dread diseases, even in the field of personal accident insurance
  • The manual makes it easier for primary insurers to assess risk

Hannover, March 7, 1997:

Following the successful launch of the "Dread Disease" insurance product in Great Britain a few years ago, i.e. a product that can insure against serious illnesses, E+S Rück, a subsidiary of Hannover Re, have developed a new enhanced personal accident insurance product for the German market. In this policy, classical accident insurance is extended to include additional hazards.

The supplemented service package covers such dread diseases as heart attack, cancer, stroke and kidney failure. Thus, the term "accident", defined as sudden and fateful, has been logically extended to include a group of dread diseases whose incidence is regarded as a stroke of fate. Benefits are paid upon onset of these diseases after confirmed diagnosis, and not according to the severity of physical damage.

As a complimentary service for German primary insurers, E+S Rück presents a manual entitled "Dread Disease - Principles and Underwriting of Dread Diseases" that supplies the necessary basics for introducing this product. It contains a detailed description of how such typical risk factors as smoking, high blood pressure and disorders of lipid metabolism can affect the calculation of premiums. Additionally, it provides insurers an overview of all the trends in this product line that can be expected in the near future.