Why is critical illness and disability cover so important, and how can advisers best communicate this with their clients?
For many South Africans, the greatest financial risk is not death but surviving a serious illness or disability without the means to maintain their lifestyle. Advances in medical care mean more people recover from conditions like cancer, strokes and heart disease; yet, recovery often brings major financial strain through income loss, ongoing treatment costs and lifestyle adjustments.
Liberty’s latest claims data reinforces this reality: cancer accounts for more than 31% of claims paid, while income protection and disability claims continue to rise. This underscores the need for cover that supports clients while they are living through illness, not only in worst-case scenarios.
For advisers, the discussion must shift toward financial resilience. Instead of asking whether clients expect to become critically ill, the real question is: what happens if they survive but cannot work? These human conversations are where advice truly matters.
How have your underwriting criteria for critical illness and disability cover changed in response to rising claims trends and earlier detection of serious illnesses?
The underwriting landscape continues to evolve alongside advances in medicine, diagnostics and changing claims trends. Earlier detection of serious illnesses, particularly cancers and cardiovascular conditions, has significantly improved survival rates, but it has also changed the nature of insurance risk. Clients are increasingly living longer with illnesses that may still impact their ability to work, earn an income or maintain their lifestyle over time.
Meanwhile, insurers are seeing rising claims linked to chronic conditions, mental health challenges and lifestyle-related illnesses. Liberty’s claims data continues to show cancer as the leading cause of claims, while disability and income protection claims have also increased. This requires underwriting approaches to continuously change in line with medical evidence, population health trends and long-term sustainability considerations.
The focus today is not only on mortality risk, but increasingly on morbidity risk – understanding how illness affects a client’s quality of life, recovery journey and earning potential. Technology and data analytics are also helping create more sophisticated risk assessment models and improved turnaround times. The goal is to strike the right balance between ensuring cover remains accessible and relevant to clients, while still pricing risk responsibly and sustainably.
What product enhancements or benefit definitions have you introduced to address modern medical treatments and the prevalence of chronic conditions?
The reality of illness and disability has shifted dramatically over the past decade, and insurance products have evolved accordingly. While more South Africans are surviving serious illnesses thanks to medical advances and early detection, many still face long-term financial strain from treatment, rehabilitation and reduced earning capacity. This has placed greater emphasis on ensuring that critical illness and disability solutions reflect modern medical realities rather than outdated assumptions.
Product design now looks beyond diagnosis alone, considering severity, functional impact, and how an illness affects a client’s ability to work and maintain their lifestyle. Within Liberty’s offering, clients can enhance their protection through flexible options such as Top-Up, which allows for higher payouts, and Extended, which provides lower payouts for minor conditions or early-stage cancers, an important feature in an era of earlier detection and improved outcomes.
Liberty also includes a Medical Advancements Protection (MAP) feature to futureproof cover. If diagnostic methods or medical standards evolve, MAP enables claims to be assessed against updated practices rather than outdated definitions.
How do you balance comprehensive critical illness cover with affordability?
Affordability remains a major barrier to adequate insurance cover, especially for younger clients and small business owners. A common misconception is that comprehensive protection must be implemented all at once, when good advice is often about prioritising the most significant risks and building cover gradually. Younger clients may start with income protection or core critical illness benefits, expanding as their income and responsibilities grow.
Because they are typically healthier, they can also secure cover at more favourable premiums, making early planning valuable. Yet, many underestimate their vulnerability during peak earning years.
What support tools or value-added services do you provide to help advisers navigate complex definitions and ensure suitable benefit structuring?
Critical illness and disability products can be highly technical, which makes adviser enablement and education incredibly important. Increasingly, the focus is not only on product training, but also on equipping advisers with practical tools that help translate complex concepts into meaningful client conversations. This includes needs-analysis frameworks, scenario-based guidance, digital adviser tools and educational resources.
There is also growing emphasis on helping advisers identify underinsurance risks and gaps in client understanding. Many clients underestimate the financial impact of surviving a serious illness or being temporarily unable to work, which is why the adviser’s role extends far beyond simply recommending products. Technology is also playing a growing role in simplifying product comparisons, benefit structuring and servicing processes.
What trends are you seeing in disability claims – temporary and permanent – and how is this influencing your approach?
One of the most notable shifts in disability claims is the growing complexity of what disability looks like. Historically, discussions focused on severe, permanent physical impairment, but modern claims trends reveal a far broader spectrum of conditions.
Liberty’s claims experience shows rising claims linked to mental health conditions, neurological disorders, musculoskeletal issues and chronic illnesses. Psychiatric and neurological conditions, in particular, have become increasingly prominent contributors to disability and income-protection claims. Disability is no longer only about catastrophic events, but also about conditions that progressively limit a person’s ability to work consistently.
Temporary disability can also create significant financial strain, even when clients ultimately recover. As a result, greater emphasis is being placed on holistic income-continuity solutions that combine lump-sum and income-protection benefits. Each plays a different but complementary role: lump-sum benefits support capital needs or lifestyle adjustments, while income protection helps sustain day-to-day financial stability. Ultimately, these trends highlight the need for personalised advice structures aligned to each client’s occupation, income dependency and long-term responsibilities.
