EDM 271: Life Insurance and diagnosis of terminal illness clause

That this House expresses concern following reports of those with life insurance premiums with Aviva being denied early pay outs on diagnosis of terminal illness due to a pernicious small print in their policy wording which requires diagnosis of a terminal illness to take place some years before the policy actually expires; notes the case of Salford resident Shaun Pinkney who was diagnosed with terminal cancer two months before his policy was due to expire but was refused his claim as his policy stated that terminal illness diagnosis must take place at least 18 months prior to the policy expiration date; further notes with concern that Aviva would not renew his policy because he had terminal cancer; recognises that Aviva has now ceased selling policies where there was a discrepancy between the end of the major benefit and the termination of the rest of the policy; further recognises that this would indicate that Aviva knows these policies are not fair, practical or fit for purpose; and calls on the Government to speak to the insurance industry and carry out a form of inquiry to see how widespread this practice was.