By Adam Saville 8 July 2020.

When the protection industry voluntarily signed a landmark agreement to increase access to insurance for people with pre-existing medical conditions and disabilities in January of this year, it solidified an agenda that the sector had been striving towards for some time.

A reduction in the availability of regulated protection advice following the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) in 2012 and Mortgage Market Review in 2014, combined with an increased prevalence of non-advised sales and a rise in online direct-to-consumer (D2C) insurance distribution has created a perfect storm, which has potentially put consumers with pre-existing medical conditions at risk of missing out on protection options. Or worse, left feeling as if they were uninsurable, despite the availability of specialist protection advisers with the skills to match clients with an emergence of life insurance offerings specifically being designed for those traditionally classed as "non-standard".  

In light of the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) crackdown on the lack of access to insurance to travel insurance, the initiative signposts customers unable to find suitable protection solutions using BIBA's Find Insurance Service, which helps direct them to specialist brokers who can assist them further...

...While group risk providers offering employer-led life assurance, income protection and critical illness tend to be inclusive, in so far as employees can get access to generous levels cover without the need for medical evidence, there are still instances where cover is rated, postponed or declined following the underwriting process. "This is why signposting is relevant - for the group risk market just as much as it is for the consumer protection market," says Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for Group Risk Development (GRiD)...

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