New critical illness protection plan with relaxed underwriting requirements and all-round wellbeing support

AXA Hong Kong and Macau (AXA) today announced the launch of its new critical illness plan, CareForAll Critical Illness Plan (“CareForAll”), bringing peace of mind to the underserved communities facing health risks. With relaxed underwriting requirements, CareForAll aims to serve customers living with chronic disease, the silver-haired segment and critical illness survivors, enabling them to access critical illness insurance as needed.

With the launch of CareForAll, AXA aims to provide comprehensive coverage access to those living with diabetes and chronic conditions known as the “3-Highs”^[1], growing elderly population, and as well as survivors of cancer, heart attack or stroke. The coverage for this plan can reach up to HKD2 million and offers one-stop wellbeing support services, with simplified and easy underwriting requirements. Unlike conventional critical illness plans in the market, applicants only have to answer as few as three straightforward questions which mainly focus on their health conditions over the past two years. Moreover, there is no medical examination and medical report submissions required in the underwriting process for all applicants.

The number of elderly persons aged 65 and over is set to almost double, reaching to 2.74 million within the next two decades. By 2046, this demographic will make up more than one in three Hongkongers. Elderly people are highly prone to chronic diseases and critical illnesses, with 75% of those over 65 dealing with conditions like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease or cancer^[2]. Additionally, there is a concerning trend of younger population suffering from chronic disease such as diabetes and the “3-Highs”^[3]. Unfortunately, individuals with existing chronic conditions or survivors of critical illnesses were often denied coverage by traditional critical illness protection plans due to stringent underwriting requirements or expensive premiums, leaving them and their families vulnerable and uncertain about their future.

A survey^[4] commissioned by AXA revealed that individuals aged 30 and above face different hurdles when purchasing insurance coverage. Specifically, 67% of respondents find it difficult to purchase critical illness insurance due to pre-existing conditions, while 71% believe that, considering their age and current health conditions, the relatively high premiums for critical illness insurance cause financial strain on them. Apart from premiums, age-related factors and complex underwriting requirements and procedures are the two primary reasons discouraging the respondents aged 50 and above from getting critical illness insurance coverage. The survey also found that younger individuals are marginalized when purchasing critical illness plans, as more than 30% of respondents aged 30-49 stated that they were denied coverage due to failed underwriting or risk assessment, a higher proportion compared to other age groups. As life expectancy increases and medical technology advances, over 70% of respondents worry that the current health insurance offerings have not adequately accommodated these changes, leaving some people in need without enough critical illness coverage.