The Blog Spot: How much does insurance really care?

I hate doing anything related to life admin.

Getting a mortgage – excruciating.

Taxing the car – dull.

Buying insurance – annoying and confusing. Sorry, but it is.

I must confess that I let my house insurance roll over this year because I couldn’t be bothered and didn’t really have time to look for new quotes. Yes, I am a ‘dual-pricer’s’ dream.

Even if you do a basic quote and buy online, there are a lot of hoops to jump through and questions to answer, e.g. what excess should I choose, should I add legal expenses cover, what is the best cover, etc.? And woe betide you if you get it wrong – we’ve all seen the warnings that claims might not be paid if answers aren’t on the button.

Daunting
Imagine how daunting the insurance process is to someone who has a dementia-related illness such as Alzheimer’s. The questions, the confusion and the warnings all create a distressing recipe, even if they are going through a broker.

The regulator has already flagged that vulnerable buyers, such as those with dementia, are a greater risk than other customers. That can’t be right and more should be done to help.

That is why Insurance Age has teamed up with the Alzheimer’s Society and Insurance United Against Dementia (IUAD) to develop three simple pledges brokers and insurers can sign up to which are designed to assist customers with some of the problems arising from dementia.  

Commitments
Our three promises are both simple and achievable and there are no excuses not to sign up.

We’re asking the market to do the following:

• Sign up to the Insurance Day of Giving on 7 November.
• Commit to making your people ‘Dementia Friends’ and become a more dementia friendly business.
• IUAD/the Alzheimer’s Society and the Chartered Insurance Institute have teamed up to produce specific guidance for businesses to better support people affected by dementia. Commit to reading the guide and let the IUAD know how it is being used and the changes that are being made.

We already know the insurance sector is generous – look at the £100,000+ raised for the IUAD last year during the Mont Blanc InsurTrek18.

Now it is time to see if we can all go further than raising funds and commit to helping the most vulnerable in society.

And we want to hear from you when you’ve signed up to the pledges. Just let the IUAD know at IUAD@alzheimers.org.uk so we can keep sharing updates on progress.

We can’t wait to get you on board!

Siân Barton is editor of Insurance Age.