Critical illness cover is everything everyone hates about insurance. It's expensive and, just when you need it most, it doesn't pay out. Insurers refuse to honour one in every five critical illness claims, often blaming customers for failing to disclose medical information on their policy application form. Forgetting to tell an insurer of a visit to the doctor about a headache a few years ago can be enough for a policy to be invalidated. Such incidents explain why, despite all the cute nodding dogs and feel-good quote-me-happys, the insurance industry is finding it hard to convince the public that it has its best interests at heart.

The Association of British Insurers has introduced a number of initiatives to increase the number of successful claims but these could take years to have effect. So far, some insurers have reported increasing rates of approved claims, while others are disallowing more than ever before. Norwich Union's decision to write to 5,000 life and critical illness policyholders, inviting them to review their application forms and fill in any details they might have missed, seems a clever way of getting immediate improvement in approval rates. Coming as Which?, the consumer magazine, called critical illness cover a "non-essential luxury", NU's move should also garner some much-needed positive PR. A win all round.

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