Matters of the heart

An estimated one billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent worldwide every year on the 14 February. Many are sent anonymously as the sender will want to keep their identity a secret so as to protect their ‘heart’ and feelings, in case their romantic gesture is not reciprocated.

Legal & General is taking the opportunity on this year’s Valentine’s Day to create greater awareness of heart disease and to remind people to consider having critical illness cover in place should they suffer a heart attack.

Currently in the UK, there are over 460,000 people under the age of 65 who have had a heart attack, so clearly it is a very serious illness. Legal & General, the UK’s leading protection provider, has been offering individual critical illness cover for people since 1989 and group critical illness cover to businesses for their employees since 1991.

Bonnie Burns, Legal & General’s Protection Marketing Director said: “At this time of year, when the heart symbol takes centre stage, people should think about protecting their heart and whether they need to change their lifestyle to improve their health. However, a healthy lifestyle cannot completely negate the risk of suffering from a heart attack so you might want to consider having a critical illness policy in place to help ensure that you are financially secure, should you experience one.”

Diane Buckley, Director, Group Risk at Legal & General said, “As a leading provider of group risk benefits, which includes critical illness cover, we really do understand the impact a critical illness could have on employees and employers. As many employers do not have a strategy for promoting awareness of critical illness, Legal & General has developed a ‘Wellbeing’ programme which can provide timely support.”