Beagle Street has launched Critical Illness Plus into the intermediary market, offering cover for 40 full-payment conditions alongside six additional-payment conditions.
The new policy builds on the provider’s recent entry into the advised critical illness market with a lower-cost product and is intended to offer broader protection while remaining competitively priced.
The six additional-payment conditions provide the lower of £30,000 or 50% of the sum insured. They include coronary angioplasty involving a single artery, which is not routinely covered by some lower-cost critical illness policies.
According to the product information, almost 80% of coronary angioplasty procedures involve a single artery, making the inclusion potentially significant for policyholders.
Advisers can also add optional children’s critical illness cover, with claims paying the lower of £30,000 or 50% of the parent’s cover. The amount of children’s protection does not decrease even where the parent’s policy is arranged on a decreasing-cover basis.
The children’s benefit also includes a fixed £5,000 payment for accidental hospitalisation.
ONLINE UNDERWRITING
Beagle Street is positioning the product within the more affordable end of the critical illness market, despite extending the range of conditions covered beyond those typically available under basic policies.
The proposition includes an instant online underwriting decision, allowing eligible applicants in good health to obtain immediate cover without additional medical evidence.
Non-contractual health support services are also provided through Square Health, Red Arc and Reframe Cancer.
CIEXPERT ASSESSMENT
Alan Lakey, director at CIExpert, welcomed the addition of another provider to the advised protection market, noting that the number of insurers offering critical illness cover had declined since the 1990s.
He said: “The ranks of insurers have thinned steadily since the 1990s, a contraction lamented by many who favour breadth of choice.
“It is therefore a matter of some satisfaction that advisers are presented with an additional option for the construction of protection arrangements suited to the varied circumstances of their clients.”
Lakey highlighted the single-artery angioplasty benefit as a distinguishing feature, particularly given the product’s intended position in the lower-cost market.
He added: “A noteworthy distinction of this plan lies in its inclusion of cover for single-artery angioplasty, a provision seldom encountered among offerings occupying the more economical reaches of the market.”
Beagle Street originally entered the direct-to-consumer insurance market in September 2012 as part of BGL Group, the business behind Compare the Market. Now owned by OneFamily, the brand has moved into adviser distribution, with further product development anticipated.
