Critical illness

Unlike policies such as income protec­tion or private medical insu­rance, which are designed to protect policy­holders against lost income or medical costs incurred, critical illness does not indem­nify the policy­holder. Instead it provides a lump sum (or sometimes regular pay­ments) should they suffer a defined medical condi­tion, reach a defined degree of impair­ment, or under­go a parti­cular sur­gical procedure.

Its complex hybrid nature suits critical illness to a wide variety of product design approa­ches. Our clients benefit from our long­standing and wide-ranging experi­ence with diffe­rent types of critical ill­ness products around the world, posi­tioning Hannover Re uni­quely well to provide expert gui­dance and to bring fresh ideas and insights to the table.

We have an esta­blished track record as inno­vators in the critical illness market. For example, we part­nered with a leading UK life insurer to design the first severity-based critical illness product in that market, and remain active members of their team to this day.

The product in question current­ly covers more than 160 diffe­rent condi­tions, for each of which we have identi­fied appro­priate pricing para­meters, workable medical defini­tions as well as appro­priate under­writing proto­cols and point of sale rules. The expe­rience we have gained here has brought us an unri­valled under­standing of the pricing and under­writing consi­derations appro­priate to a uniquely wide range of condi­tions.

Claims manage­ment is one of the areas in which we can add parti­cular value, both through the access we offer to dedi­cated medical experts and through the fle­xible and holis­tic approach we take to claims adjudi­cation.

This involves looking beyond the strict wording of a defi­nition to the spirit of the contract and the broader objec­tive of treating clients fairly.