The insurer has introduced an additional payment for cancer in situ (where the growth or tumour is confined to where it started) requiring surgery.
Scottish Widows has updated its critical illness definitions for its intermediary proposition Scottish Widows Protect.
The insurer has introduced an additional payment for cancer in situ (where the growth or tumour is confined to where it started) requiring surgery.
Scott Cadger, head of underwriting and claims strategy at Scottish Widows, said: “Advances in medical science have led to earlier detection of illnesses and greater survival rates, and we recognise that as people’s needs evolve, our critical illness policy wording needs to adapt accordingly.
“We’re committed to paying as many claims as possible and as quickly as possible in order to help people when they’re at their most vulnerable. These changes have wider scope than before and will therefore enable us to provide financial support to more customers at a time when they need it most.
“Removing complexity will also make things clearer and simpler for advisers and clients alike, with no complicated policy conditions to work out at that all-important point of claim.”
Scottish Widows has also combined Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia into one definition, as well as removing existing blanket drug and alcohol exclusions from five conditions including liver failure and cardiomyopathy.
Meanwhile the insurer has raised the maximum age of children’s critical illness and children’s life cover to 22, from 21, in line with the state view of parental responsibility, as well as extending coverage for children under the intensive care and brain injury definitions.
It has also adapted the Motor Neurone disease definition to include specific diseases covered, while extending cover to include Kennedy’s Disease and Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
