Aviva paid 92.5% of critical illness (CI) claims during the first six months of the year.

Government health reforms still pose an "unacceptably high risk to the NHS" and should be scrapped, according to the British Medical Association (BMA).

Health insurers and brokers have broadly supported the Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) view that the private healthcare market is ‘not working well for customers'.

The British Insurance Brokers' Association (Biba) and the Institute of Insurance Brokers (IIB) have called for regulatory barriers to be lowered and for the current inappropriate style and intensity of regulation to be reformed.

Advisers fear their unprotected clients would be forced to live on state benefits or rack up large debt burdens should the worst happen.

Aviva is aiming to settle death claims from group risk customers within three days.

Canada Life has said it sees significant growth opportunities in group risk and plans to use new media to market the sector.

The protection market is shrinking and becoming more concentrated in the hands of a few providers, according to figures from the FSA.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) this week revealed that nine in every ten claims made under a critical illness (CI) policy in 2010 was paid by the insurer.

It is perhaps not a little ironic that on the eve of deadline day for three major banking groups to resolve their pre-judicial review payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints, another possible ‘protection' mis-selling scandal is uncovered.