On your marks

As the world begins to heat up in anticipation of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, it is an interesting exercise to compare insurance products to athletic events. If income protection and critical illness are glamorous showpiece events such as the 100m sprint or the 200m hurdles, then healthcare cash plans are similar to the marathon – they run along nicely at a measured pace, performing steadily but lacking the whizz-bang thrill of its counterparts in the protection market. Philip Blackburn, senior economist at Laing and Buisson, explains that there has been no significant alterations in ...