Gen Re has been working with partners to develop a protection solution that delivers some form of cover to customers who have self harmed or tried to take their own lives.
This is according to Lynn Timmons, chief underwriting officer at Gen Re, who addressed delegates at Health & Protection’s inaugural Protection Forum last week.
Timmons explained that while there is a perception that people with mental health conditions cannot access protection cover, the vast majority can do.
However, she added that the exception is often those that have self harmed or previously attempted to take their own lives.
Timmons told delegates that while most customers in this group accept they will not be able to access protection insurance, most just want some sort of cover in place.
Consequently, Timmons said that Gen Re had set about working with its partners to try and come up with a solution for these customers that would put them on a permanent self inflicted exclusion.
“In doing so, this meant there was a cohort of lives that we were able to take and then give cover to them, Timmons explained.
“It’s covered them for all other eventualities apart from if they took their own life.
“Now, this is not for everybody and luckily the partners we worked with in collaboration were very aligned with that.
“We also knew that this was a bespoke product. It’s still very limited to this small subset,” Timmons continued.
“And the customer and the beneficiaries taking out the product are fully aware of what would happen if that person took their own life.
“And that was one of the fundamental key things they were aware of. They had cover for everything else apart from if they took their own lives.
“It’s labour intensive. It’s costly. You have to get medical evidence for every case. I have to say underwriters have got to spend their time doing it.
“But actually what we found was it was helpful. But it is still quite a small subset to the market. “