Liberty’s latest Living Lifestyle enhancements add even greater long-term financial security to critical illness cover

Liberty today introduced a range of innovative enhancements to its Living Lifestyle critical illness cover solutions, including a South African first in the form of its new Medical Advancements Protection feature.

According to Ryan Switala, Head of Risk Product Development at Liberty, the product improvements are designed to offer additional peace of mind by ensuring that critical illness cover stays relevant and comprehensive in today’s rapidly advancing medical environment.

“When Liberty first introduced its Living Lifestyle range, it did so with a view towards providing individuals and their families an effective means of protecting their quality of life in the event of a serious illness like cancer, stroke and heart attacks, to name just a few,” Switala explains, “this is especially true when one considers that being diagnosed with a critical condition almost invariably places significant pressure on one’s finances due to increased care and lifestyle adjustment costs.”

He explains that the Living Lifestyle benefits help to protect against this financial risk by paying policyholders a cash lump sum in the event of suffering one of the many conditions covered.

“Over the years, the Living Lifestyle benefits have proven very effective in achieving this vital protection for Liberty clients,” Switala points out, “thanks, mainly, to the breadth and depth of cover offered and Liberty’s unfailing commitment to pay all valid claims and continually improve its benefits.”

The recent critical illness cover enhancements are evidence of this ongoing improvement commitment, particularly given the need for this type of cover to keep pace with the rapid changes that occur in the medical environment and that impact on the way that serious medical conditions are defined and diagnosed.

According to Switala, the Medical Advancements Protection (MAP) feature – which is a first in South Africa - represents something of a revolution in critical illness risk cover because of the way in which it addresses the claims rigidity that has long characterised many such policies.

“Historically, the legitimacy of a critical illness claim would be determined using rigid claim definitions defined at the inception of the cover, but which are expected to apply many years into the future,” he explains, “these definitions often rely on very specific classification systems, medical tests or procedures and while such precise criteria help to make the cover objective and transparent, there is a risk that they may become irrelevant or outdated.”

Historically critical illness cover terms and conditions have not really considered this issue which, according to Switala, could pose claims challenges for holders of such policies in the longer term.

“Liberty’s MAP feature helps to solve this and provides additional security by laying out a framework for future critical illness claims to be considered for payment in instances where the initial criteria or definitions for a disease or condition have become outdated or been changed due to more recent medical advancements,” he explains.

The company has also introduced a number of other exciting enhancements to its Living Lifestyle range, not least of which are increased payout percentages on certain diseases and conditions and expanded claims criteria to include cover for additional conditions.

“These critical illness cover enhancements come on the back of the significant income protection improvements introduced on the Lifestyle Protector product by Liberty in 2011,” says Switala, “and together, they present tangible proof of our absolute commitment to partnering with our clients to protect and enhance their lifestyles in a way that allows them to worry less about their cover, and concern themselves more with simply enjoying their lives.”