Providers release competitive set of results
Critical illness (CI) providers are consistently paying out on 90% of claims or more, results published today by Friends Life and Legal & General show.
Legal & General paid 93.2% of claims in 2011 while Friends Life paid 90% of claims.
Legal & General paid out a record total of £441m in death and CI claims last year, up 18% on the £373m it paid out in 2010.
The provider paid out 2,784 claims in 2011, with the average payment per claim standing at £63,573 and the average age of the claimant being 43 years. It says that cancer remains the number one reason for a CI claim.
Of the 6.8% of CI claims that were declined by Legal & General, 2.6% were declined for non-disclosure and the remaining 4.8% for failing to meet the policy definition.
Meanwhile Friends Life paid out a total of £89.5m in claims last year. The provider declined 4% of claims due to non-disclosure and a further 6% for failing to meet the policy definition.
Out of 1,733 total claims, Friends Life paid out on 1,565. The average age of a male claimant was 45 and for females, the average age was 43.
Steve Casey, head of marketing and intermediary proposition development at Friends Life, said: “The wide range of conditions that our customers continue to claim for demonstrates that not all critical illness covers are the same.
“It is important that people ensure that they have the right cover in place and that advisers work hard to match their clients to relevant and appropriate policies for their needs.”
Legal & General and Friends Life’s results are broadly in line with those published by other providers earlier this month.
Aviva paid out 94.1% of CI claims in 2011, while AEGON paid out 93% of claims and Scottish Provident paid out in 91% of cases.
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Thursday 29 March 2012
Wednesday 7 March 2012
Women 'drastically' under-insured
Big gulf compared to men in spite of increasing financial responsibilities
Women "drastically" under-insure themselves when it comes to taking out protection cover, according to statistics released today.
And the problem is set to get worse as new EU rules on gender-based pricing for insurance come into force later this year.
Figures compiled by Scottish Provident, the insurer, suggest that men typically protect themselves with around 50% more life cover than women. Although the gap is “relatively small” to begin with – 23% among those in their 30s – it gets progressively wider and becomes a “significant gulf” for those in their 60s, when men have almost twice as much cover in place, Scot Prov said.
A new EU gender directive which comes into force in December means that the cost of protection for women is set to rise substantially, with some commentators projecting a rise of around 20%. As a result, Jennifer Gilchrist, senior product development manager, at Scottish Provident, said 2012 should be the year in which women act to protect their families’ financial security.
Research shows that women are increasingly becoming the primary household earners in the UK and elsewhere in the Western world.
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Monday 5 March 2012
20 million Brits without financial safety net
Tens of millions would be unable to maintain lifestyle should they fall ill
Over 20 million people in the UK would be unable to maintain their current lifestyle after September 2012 if they had to live off any "emergency" funds, it was claimed today.
A study for Bright Grey, the protection provider, shows that 41% of adults - five times more than in 2010 - say they would only be able to rely on savings, borrow from friends and family or rely on credit, for up to six months in a financial emergency.
Half (49%) of those surveyed for Bright Grey's Financial Safety Net report believe they could rely on these types of support to survive financially for over a year.
However, in spite of this, three in five (60%) people have no cover whatsoever compared to 58% a year ago – whether that’s life insurance, critical illness or income protection.
The study also showed that nearly half (43%) of respondents say they have £1,000 or less in savings that they could access immediately. Nearly a quarter (23%) have no money saved at all.
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Thursday 1 March 2012
Four out of five new parents 'skimping' on life cover
But expectant mums and dads spend fortune on prams and clothes
Four out of five new parents are risking their children's financial futures by “skimping” on life cover, according to research published today.
A survey of 1,500 recent parents carried out for Aviva suggests that while two out of five (40%) start a savings account for a new arrival, fewer than one in five (18%) take out life insurance.
The study reveals that parents are going without life cover even though they have considered what would happen should they die, with a quarter of respondents to the survey stating they had chosen a guardian for their child if they were to pass away.
Aviva said that expectant parents spend an average of £1,370 on things such as pushchairs, baby clothes, cots, bedding, car seats and nappies. However, two-thirds (60%) of families have no form of protection in place and the average family only has £928 in savings.
Research published recently by Ageas Protect suggested that less than one in ten (9%) people have a critical illness policy in place – equivalent to 4.5 million adults – while 12% have taken out a pet insurance policy, equating to 5.9 million adults.
Louise Colley, head of protection marketing and sales for Aviva, said that it is understandable that expectant parents spend so much on their unborn baby but within the “checklist” of essential items, she would urge them to consider putting a small amount aside each month to protect their family's financial future.
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