The UK protection insurance sector needs to design life, critical illness and income protection products to cater for the needs of individuals with sickle cell.
Sheun Oke, area sales manager at Wealthmax Financial Advisers, challenged the industry to live up to its talk about supporting more diverse communities by tackling the long-standing issue.
Oke said she was having “uncomfortable conversations” but wanted to help develop ideas.
Sickle cell is an inherited blood disorder where red blood cells become sickle or crescent shaped. It causes frequent infections, swelling in the hands and legs, pain, severe tiredness, and delayed growth or puberty. It is more common in people of African descent.
While the condition can prove fatal, many people are able to live, work and raise families successfully.
Consequently, Oke (pictured) told Health & Protection that the UK insurance sector needs to design products to cater for these individuals.
“What I want is to have a product that supports life insurance, income protection and critical illness cover, because people who have sickle cell are in jobs, have homes with mortgages and run successful businesses,” she said.
“I’m sure they are happy to pay the premium to have protection in place.”
No progress after 20 years
Oke explained that the lack of a solution was compounded by the fact there are not enough people in the sector talking about this issue.
“I was speaking to a veteran in the industry who told me he raised this issue 20 years ago and we’re saying exactly the same thing 20 years down the line,” she said.
“We don’t have a lot of financial advisers talking about this, so I’m having to have uncomfortable conversations with people in the sector, but I am happy to work with providers to craft a solution.”
Oke, is the author of upcoming book The Book on Insurance – How to Protect Yourself, Family and Businesses Against Financial Misfortunes.
