Summary
An innovative new product has been introduced by Animal Friends Insurance. The new insurance plan offers lower premiums to vegetarians, based on evidence that they are at a lower risk than their carnivore counterparts of developing certain diseases. It remains to be seen whether other insurance organisations will follow the example set by AFI .
A no-profit insurance business has launched an insurance scheme which offers fish-eaters and vegetarians a reduced price cheap critical illness insurance .
The offer, believed to be the 1st of its type, is being brought to the market by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The firm is offering veggies a 6% cheaper premiumon life assurance premiums
The organisation said that vegetarians ought to pay a lower amount for the cover, which pays out if the policyholder dies, because they were more unlikely to suffer from a selection of serious conditions, including some cancers.
Rebecca Puttey, A senior director at Animal Friends Insurance, claims that the risk of veggies being diagnosed with certain cancers is lowered by up to forty two per cent and the risk of them suffering from heart disease is reduced by up to thirty per cent, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay identical premiums as customers who eat meat.
She says that AFI think that this is unfair and says the life insurance industry should recognise the concept that being a veggie can impose have a big influence on life expectancy and reduce its monthly premiums accordingly.
A full-price arrangement is also on the market for non-vegetarians. Both insurance plans are underwritten by LV=, which was previously known as Liverpool Victoria.
In common with normal life policies, a range of things contribute to the cost of the policies including whether the applicant smokes, their sex, weight and age.
Currently, AFI is funding the six per cent lower price itself from the cash it receives from LV=. In the future, however, the company’s aim was to offer lower costs on specialist plans. In making the offer the organisation is hoping to sign up enough vegetarians to make it worthwhile for LV= to underwrite another insurance policy that takes the veggie diet into account.
Indeed there are huge savings to be made, a 38 year oldnon-smoker wanting £300,000 worth of insurance cover might potentially save £393.60 over a 20-year period.
Where critical illness is concerned, AFI believes that life insurance companies should try to treat those that like meat and those that do not eat meat in a way that is similar to the way they assess those that don’t smoke and those that do. Perhaps others in the insurance industry will take the same initiative.
Some managersin the insurance industry doubt whether there is verifyable proof that veggies live longer, and how any insurance company would know that those who had certified that they are vegetarian did not sometimes enjoy the odd lamb chop.
When it comes to smoking, the insurance company can refer to your GP’s patient records – if you now don’t smoke it’s likely that your Doctor would know about it. But this isn’t the case when it comes to eating meat, an executive from the insurance industry commented.
But many veggetarians say that they are not worried about people falling off the veggie wagon and suggested that once a veggie has become a vegetarian, they do not return to meat-eating, unlike applicants who smoke who tend to drift out and back again into their habit.
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