Optimising critical illness cover
The word insurance comes from an old French word ‘ enseurance ’ and is simply meant to mean protection from financial loss as a result of various risks . Interestingly , the first form of insurance was recorded by Babylonian and Chinese traders , and the first documented loss limitation method was noted in the Code of Hammurabi written around 1750 BC . The first kingdom to insure its people were the Achaemenian monarchs . Gifts were given to monarchs and were recorded in a register . When givers were in trouble and required help , they would present the register to obtain aid .
Insurance has a 3 000-year history and has continuously modernised . Where early types of insurance covered traders , it soon developed to cover risks such as fires and accidents . Today , there is insurance cover available for almost anything .
South Africa played an important part in this history . One such contribution was the development of what is today known as critical illness cover . Dr Marius Barnard , a cardiac surgeon with no previous knowledge of insurance , noted the financial plight of many of his patients following the diagnosis and treatment of a critical illness .
As much as he realised that creating an insurance product would help solve this problem , it took him three years to find re-insurers and an insurance company that would take on the product . Finally , the first critical illness product was launched on 6 October 1983 as dread disease insurance . This world first quickly spread to the United Kingdom , Ireland , Australia and further afield .
This form of insurance originally covered four primary human health conditions : cancer , stroke , heart attack and coronary bypass surgery , considering the policyholder ’ s needs and the developments within the medical space .
Just as other forms of insurance cover evolved over the years , so did cover for critical illness .
As medical science develops and new treatment options become available , so does the need to adapt and change critical illness cover .
It is for this reason that PPS has used the meaningful role that medical technology has played in the early detection and treatment of dread diseases as a guide to refine its Critical Illness Cover . Moreover , the COVID-19
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