January 25, 2015

Manulife is excited to announce enhancements to Lifecheque critical illness (CI) effective January 26, 2015. The changes reflect our on-going commitment to deliver a broad product shelf that is competitive and attractive to you and your clients.

Highlights

·         One of the first companies to adopt the 2013 Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) covered condition                                          benchmark definitions;

·         Addition of two covered conditions--Aplastic Anemia and Bacterial meningitis;

·         Addition of three early stage cancer conditions to the Early Intervention Benefit;

·         Improved access to LivingCare by reducing the waiting period to 90 days (from 180 days);

·         Removal of sub-standard rating to Return of Premium Riders (Death - ROPD, Expiry - ROPX, Early Surrender -  ROPS) when the                              associated insurance coverage is also rated as sub-standard;

·         Product enhancements, as applicable, will also apply to the critical illness component of Synergy; and

·         Significant price improvements on Lifecheque Return of Premium Rider options on Level Term 75 and Permanent Term 100, including                  various price changes to improve overall competitiveness of 15-pay plans.

Details

Product Enhancements:

      Expanded benchmark definitions

•  Manulife is one of the first companies to adopt the 2013 CLHIA covered condition benchmark definitions. The CLHIA in conjunction with  participating insurance companies has updated the critical illness benchmark definitions to reflect medical advancements, to provide  clarity and ease some of the perceived complexity around CI definitions. 

 i.   Of note, is the expansion of Alzheimer’s disease to also include Dementia and Parkinson’s disease to also              include specified atypical Parkinsonian disorders. 

• Manulife will also be adding two covered conditions; aplastic anemia and bacterial meningitis, bringing the total number of covered conditions to 24.  These two covered conditions are also applicable to Lifecheque and Synergy child riders. 

     New conditions added to early intervention benefit 

•  Addition of three conditions to the early intervention benefit, bringing the total number of conditions to six. The new conditions  are: 

           i.    Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) Rai stage 0

          ii.    Papillary or follicular thyroid cancer stage T1

          iii.    Stage 1 malignant melanoma

     Improved access to LivingCare  

•   We are reducing the waiting period to 90 days (from 180 days) of functional dependence in order to provide quicker access to the              LivingCare benefit within Lifecheque.  

Pricing changes

Changes have been made on Level (Term 75), Permanent (Term 100 and 15-pay) coverages, particularly in the younger age categories. Primary (Term 65) rates with Return of Premium on Expiry (ROPX) also have minor changes. Our Renewable Term 10 and Term 20 rates are already among the most competitive within the industry and did not change.

Take a look at the average percentage change in the following categories:

Base + ROPD + ROPS with age bands

ROPS only Term 75/100

ROPS only Term 75/100 with age bands