New products: Protection
HEALTH INSURANCE - 1ST SEPTEMBER 2003
The company:
Burgesses is a London-based underwriting agency. Run by the larger than life Simon Burgess it has managed a series of controversial product launches, featuring policies for alien abduction and virgin birth insurance.
There is though a serious side to the company in that it negotiates annually renewable health insurance’s through the London market. This particular plan is underwritten at Lloyd’s.
The product:
Equality is a non-discriminatory mortgage payment protection insurance plan that, after a waiting period 30, 60 or 90 days, pays up to the lower of £2,500 a month or 75% of gross monthly income for up to 12 months. While aimed at protection mortgage costs, any amount insured above that level I called income protection.
• The plan is subject to a 30 day exclusion period for new mortgages and 90 days for any mortgage more than 30 days old and is available to UK residents aged 18 to 65.
• In order to claim under the unemployment section of the policy, the claimant must have been continuously working for at least six months.
• Disability exclusions are fairly standard although back conditions are no covered “unless there is radiological evidence of medical abnormality or a visible wound or contusion”. Pre-existing conditions suffered up to 36 months before taking out the plan are excluded.
• HIV/Aids is not excluded nor the physical complications that arise form pregnancy, although otherwise pregnancy remains an excluded condition.
Options:
Which type of cover to have, which waiting period and monthly benefit.
Marketing:
The brochure is very similar in design to the IFA Portfolio plan. The insurer was not specified in the pre-launch draft brochure we saw, which also had Aids/HIV as an exclusion. We understand that this has been corrected in the final literature.
Complaints:
No complaints procedure is set out in the brochure, although it clearly sets out both benefits and exclusions.
Commission:
20% of each premium paid.
What they say:
Burgesses managing partner Simon Burgess says: “Discrimination on the basis of age, gender or sexuality is not acceptable practice in the 2000’s and has quite sinister implications because it puts forward a template for insurers to cherry-pick on the grounds of genetic information.”
What we say:
Burgesses marketing literature makes much of its non-discriminatory nature.
In practice however men and woman usually pay the same rate on this type of cover and insurer s can afford to do this as their maximum exposure is just 12 month’s benefit, compared to having potentially to pay every month up to retirement which can happen on long tem income payment protection insurance policies.
The lack of Aids/HIV and pregnancy physical complications exclusions within the policy will, however, appeal to some clients.
Health Insurance Product Rating: 2 ½ out of 5
