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Adviser Bulletin - Critical Illness Update

October 2007

In Summary

This bulletin summarises the changes to terms to Group and Voluntary Critical Illness products which are effective from 1st October 2007.

From 1st October Unum introduced significant changes to its terms for Group and Voluntary Critical Illness. Unum already has a competitive product offering the shortest survival period (14 days) and the largest number of conditions covered (32 under Extra cover).

The new terms apply to new business from 1st October 2007 and existing policies from their next rate retest after that date. In no cases will the changes be applied retrospectively.

There are five key changes to these products which are detailed as follows:

1. Improvements to the Automatic Entry Limit (AEL)

We have changed the application of the Automatic Entry Limit so that it operates like a Free Cover Limit. Essentially, this means that all eligible members may have at least £150,000 cover - subject to a Pre-existing Conditions Exclusion (PECE). Under our previous terms, we reserved the right to deny new members entry to the scheme if their Critical Illness risk was uninsurable. The change brings Group Critical Illness into line with our other Group products.

2. Extension to the Temporary Cover Provision

Temporary cover applies for two months from

the date the member joins the policy with benefits above the AEL,

the effective date of an increase in benefit above the AEL.

The pre-existing conditions exclusion will apply to the full amount of benefit being underwritten in the event of a claim during the temporary cover period.

Benefits will not be paid under temporary cover arrangements for conditions resulting from hazardous pursuits, attempted suicide or self-inflicted injury.

For Extra Cover, if a member becomes disabled because of an illness commencing or an injury sustained during the temporary cover period, a claim for PTD will be payable if the member satisfies the Activities of Daily Living conditions in section E Defined conditions – Extra Cover of the Group Critical Illness Technical Guide.

3. Extension of the definition of partner for Voluntary Critical Illness

We have extended our Voluntary CI offering to allow for a broader (customer defined) definition that extends beyond the current definition of legal spouse and civil partner. A partner describes a relationship to the member that you define for your policy and that is acceptable to us. A typical definition is "a person who is over age 18 and not a relative of the employee, other than their legal spouse, and who is financially dependent upon them and sharing the same main residence with them and has been doing so for a specified period (minimum 6 months)". The definition of partner must be agreed by Unum before assuming risk.

4. Equity Partners

We are providing terms for Equity Partners.

5. Clarifying the pre-existing conditions exclusion (PECE)

We have reworded the related conditions for Heart Attack, Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts, Kidney failure and Stroke to make it clear how obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes mellitus affect claims for these Critical Illness events.

For full details on these changes please refer the technical guides which can be found on the website at http://www.unum.co.uk/Home/Advisers/Literature/ or If you have any questions regarding this Adviser Bulletin, please contact your Sales Consultant.

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