SERIOUS illness policies are being updated so often these days that keeping track of all the new contracts is no easy task. Commenting on our recent article about the new BCP Moneycare, serious illness guide and survey, Declan Lawlor of Irish Progressive insists that "the Moneycare guide is out of date in so far as it applies to Irish Progressive". Scottish Provident, meanwhile has this week extended the cover it offers to anyone who, in certain circumstances, contracts AIDS.

According to Mr Lawlor, his company now offers to cover 29 illnesses, as opposed to 13 previously, with Permanent Total Disability illnesses now included automatically. The company's new Guaranteed range of policies also offers clients a traditional lump sum payment or the option of taking an income benefit.

Scottish Provident is the first insurer here or in Britain to include AIDS contracted through physical assault under their Self Assurance plan. Most companies now include AIDS under their lists of serious illnesses, but only if it has been contracted while performing certain duties where the person may have suffered a needlestick injury - in the health services or as a police or prison officer. Now the company is extending the cover to anyone who contracts the illness through physical assault.

"Alarmed by the recent unpleasant rise in syringe attacks, we feel it is now appropriate to offer cover against AIDS resulting from such attacks," says Martin Murray of Scottish Provident. "No other company has widened cover to this extent."