Keep your secret weapon at bay

We do not have any guarantees about our future health and wellness. And while critical illnesses continue to pose a very real threat to our quality of life and our longevity, advances in medical care means that we can detect illnesses earlier and survive illnesses that would have been fatal in the past.

FAnews attended the Momentum DNA of Financial Wellness Partnership Forum where Stephen van Niekerk, Head of Retail Insurance Solutions at Momentum, shared his views on and the importance of critical illness cover.

Speaking for themselves

The need for critical illness in South Africa cannot be understated. Statistics show that in South Africa, 100 000 people are annually diagnosed with some form of cancer and the survival rate is six out of ten.

Statistics also show that about 130 heart attacks and 240 strokes occur daily in South Africa. This implies that ten people will suffer a stroke and five people will suffer a heart attack every hour.

“The likelihood of suffering from cancer before the age of 65 is one in ten; this increases to one in two before the age of 85. Further, the likelihood of suffering a heart disease before the age of 65 is one in six. This increases to one in three before the age of 85,” said Van Niekerk.

Medical advancements

Technology is a general driver of change globally, and it also has a significant impact on the medical industry. New medical advancements mean that critical illness products have to adjust to a number of changing aspects.

While Google is no substitute for a proper medical professional, it has made clients more aware of symptoms and has increased the frequency of early stage diagnoses..

“The key issue here is that we do not know what technology will advance to in the future. Nanotechnology, for example, has had exciting developments over the last couple of years. Some applications include Nanotechnology’s ability to act as drug delivery mechanisms to areas in the body that we previously could not access easily without damaging surrounding tissue thereby reducing side effects for example in chemotherapy. As a result of Nanorobotics, doctors are now able to insert Nano detectors into a patient’s coronary artery, which means that the detector can send a signal to a smartphone to alert you of a possible heart attack,” said Van Niekerk.

Adjust with the times

While there are major advancements in technology, it is critical that products are flexible enough to remain relevant despite these changes.

“We can also add longevity to this discussion. The days of your clients eating foods with scant regard for their wellbeing are long gone and we are starting to see adjustments to diets and lifestyles which encourage longevity. This is why longevity protection to critical illness benefits is becoming common place,” said Van Niekerk.

Breadth of cover

Van Niekerk added that “Clients and advisers are unfortunately not always able to make an accurate assessment of which benefit provides better breadth of cover and often competitor comparisons only focus on specific events without giving a complete picture. This often complicates discussions with clients in a world where TCF is supposed to rule. In a perfect world ‘best of breed’ critical illness benefits should:

• provide early pay-outs in line with early detection trends;
• offer unsurpassed breadth of cover;
• provide broad, child specific critical illness cover;
• provide reinstatement of cover after a claim event;
• offer appropriate pay-out levels to ensure cover remains affordable ;
• be simple to understand and not create unnecessary complexity for clients; and
• make provision for additional payments, over and above any initial lump sum payment, so that cover never runs out.”

The need for your clients to have sufficient critical illness cover is important. Combined with other key products such as income protection, clients will not have to worry if they get the dreaded phone call that they are diagnosed with a critical illness.