Aviva and Scottish Provident Critical Illness Claims 2009

Another two leading life insurance and critical illness insures, Aviva and Scottish Provident, release their figures for the number of critical illness claims paid in 2009. As with the releases of other leading insurers in the sector, it was encouraging to see payout ratios of over 90% of claims.

In 2009, Aviva paid 1,499 claims totalling in excess of £117 million, with an average claim amount of £78,707. The total percentage of claims paid was equal to 91%. Of the 136 claims declined, 6% were declined for not meeting the critical illness definition and 2% for discovery of material non-disclosure at the time of application. The largest number of claims paid were for cancer (54%), followed by heart attack (20%) and then multiple sclerosis (6%) for men. For women the largest number of claims paid were for cancer (79%), followed by multiple sclerosis (9%) and then stroke (5%). The largest number of claims were paid for individuals between the age of 40 and 49.

In 2009, Scottish Provident paid out over £93 million in critical illness claims, with an average payout of £75,934. Of the claims made Scottish Provident paid out in 91.3% of cases. Over 96% of cancer claims and 100% of Parkinson's disease and kidney failure claims were paid. Over 93% of claims for the top 4 illnesses were paid in 2009. These were cancer, heart attack, stroke and multiple sclerosis. Interestingly, children's critical illness remains their 5th highest reason for claiming. Of the claims declined, 7%  were not paid due to non-disclosure, which seems fairly high relative to other insurers.

Thus, of the leading insurers who have released critical illness claims paid figures for 2009, Legal and General have led the way with a payout ratio of 94%, followed by Axa with a payout ratio of 93%.

Critical illness is a well established form of both personal and mortgage protection. A very popular option is to include critical illness with mortgage life insurance cover to provide an extra layer of mortgage protection. This means that the mortgage could be repaid if the policyholder was to suffer a serious (critical) illness, such as those mentioned above. For more information on mortgage critical illness cover please follow the link to our dedicated page.