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Dr Barnard: Critical illness insurance vital
16 January 2008 11:00
The man behind the concept of critical illness cover has highlighted the value of his invention and the competence of its providers, but argued that it needs better publicity.
A study conducted last year by researcher BRMB revealed that only one in six Britons are presently in possession of a critical illness policy, whereas more than two out of five people have taken out life insurance.
Yet Dr Marius Barnard, who formulated the idea of critical illness cover back in 1983, claimed that rising life expectancy and better treatment has made it is a far better solution than life cover, especially once the policyholder has passed the peak of their working life.
He argued that part of the problem is that people are more familiar with the notion of life insurance than its counterpart for severe ailments, although he nonetheless praised the work of insurers in combating this ignorance.
Dr Barnard also called on the industry to work to counter negative media attention over unpaid claims, while insisting that critical illness policies always compensate clearly diagnosed patients and that the proportion of claims being rejected is now diminishing.
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