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Vitality has released its 2018 claims statistics across Life Insurance, Income Protection and Serious Illness Cover.
In total, Vitality paid out £56.3 million in claims last year, with the bulk of this – £35.5 million – being paid out in Life Insurance claims.
Vitality has a wide array of Life Insurance customers in terms of demographic, with its youngest Life Insurance claimant being just 21 years old. They passed away due to a motor vehicle crash. Its oldest claimant last year was 89 – they died as a result of a cardiac arrest.
Not only did Vitality pay 99.8% of claims in 2018, but this figure topped the list of 10 Life Insurance providers Drewberry tracks claims data for in terms of the percentage of successful claims. The 0.2% of declined claims were due to suicide in the first 12 months of the policy, which isn’t covered by any insurer in the marketplace.
The next biggest insurance in terms of value of claims for Vitality last year was Serious Illness Cover, its extended version of Critical Illness Insurance. Vitality paid out £20.4 million in such claims in 2018, with 91.2% of all claims being successful.
The top reason for a claim among men and women was for cancer. For women the second-most common reason for a claim was a stroke or illness relating to the nervous system, followed by conditions of the heart and arteries.
For men these two illnesses were reversed, with heart and artery conditions being the second-biggest claim followed by strokes and diseases of the nervous system.
Of the 8.8% of claims that weren’t paid last year, 6.3% of declines resulted from the claims definition not being met and 2.5% were as a result of non-disclosure at the time the policyholder purchased the policy.
Non-disclosure at the outset of the policy can result in a declined claim in a small minority of cases. That’s why taking out cover through an adviser such as Drewberry can be so helpful, because we help you understand everything that needs to be disclosed from the start to ensure you have the best possible chance of making a successful claim.
Michael Barrow
Independent Protection Specialist at Drewberry
Vitality is a fairly small player in the Income Protection market thus far, with £421,803 paid out in Income Protection claims in 2018. However, it had an impressive payout rate of 97.8% for Income Protection claims last year.
9 in 10 of the successful Income Protection claims last year were among people under the age of 50, highlighting the value of having such cover in place.
Of the 2.2% of claims which were declined last year, all were as a result of non-disclosure by the policyholder at the time they purchased the cover.
We always welcome the transparency of published claims, and this data from Vitality is no exception. Not only has Vitality published the proportion of successful claims but they’ve provided strong grounding for the claims that were declined, which is equally important. We hope these figures provide reassurance to clients that a very high proportion of claims are indeed paid, offering them the confidence they need that their policy will be there when they need it the most.
Tom Conner
Director at Drewberry
