2 March 2018
Getting to the heart of Critical Illness cover - a promise fulfilled
I recently hosted an event that marked the culmination of an important promise. At the BAFTA auditorium in London, our Protection team arranged the premiere screening of "Change of Heart: The operation that changed the world", a documentary about the world's first human to human heart transplant, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa.
What did this have to do with Protection Insurance? Well, a lesser-known fact is that his brother Marius Barnard was also a heart surgeon who led one of the teams that performed the first transplant. But if you spoke to Marius, he would argue that this was not his greatest achievement in life.
Motivated by the financial hardship he witnessed his patients suffer, Marius convinced South African insurance companies to introduce a new type of insurance and in 1983, critical illness cover was born. Interestingly heart-related disorders remain one of the biggest reasons for people to claim today.
I worked closely with Marius, when he played an instrumental part in helping Scottish Widows develop its critical illness insurance philosophy, culture and products. I considered him both a friend and mentor, and before he died of cancer in November 2014, I made a promise to continue to highlight the importance of this cover.
The documentary was created by Marius Barnard's daughter Naudene Leisegang, and we also showed another shorter video at the event, also created by her, that showed what inspired Marius to create critical illness cover.
The reaction from guests at the event was truly overwhelming, and I think I know the reason why. As an industry we get tied up around the detail, focusing on things like product features and number of definitions, and sometimes forget why we're here - to ensure that our customers get the protection they need in the event of suffering a life changing serious illness.
We know there is a real, continuing protection gap, with only 8% of the UK having critical illness cover. The documentary and short film reminded people in a direct, emotional way, that behind the numbers are real people whose outcomes for both them and their families could be so much better, with appropriate cover in place.
Another promise I made Marius was that financial advisers, the medical profession and health charities would get access to any material we've developed with, and about him, for professional development and consumer educational purposes.
So I'm please to share the film we made with Dr Barnard that showed how the first heart transplant led to the creation of critical illness insurance. To watch it please click HERE.
I hope it has the same impact on you and your clients as it did for those at the event. And although this marks the culmination of a promise, this isn't the end of my work to highlight the continuing importance and relevance of this type of cover.