Cancer dominates death claim lodgments

MALIGNANT cancers accounted for almost half of all death claims lodged with Irish Life last year.

Heart-related conditions were responsible for more than one in five death claims, according to an analysis by Irish Life of the total life and specified illness cover (SIC) payments made to customers in 2007.

Adult accident claims made up 8% of the total claims and of these, 23% were road traffic-related. Alcohol was a contributory factor in one in six of all accident claims.

Irish Life paid €54 million in respect of 1,055 death claims last year, an average of just over €51,000 per claim.

Martin Duffy, head of Underwriting at Irish Life, said the pay-outs showed people were “generally very under-insured”.

“If you take that the average industrial wage is approximately €37,000, you would want to have about €800,000 in the event of a partner’s death, yet the average pay-out was €51,000.”

The largest single death payment last year was just over €1m in respect of a 50-year-old male professional who died of pancreatic cancer. The largest single payment in respect of a female was for €467,000 in respect of a professional who died of breast cancer.

For the second year running, malignant cancers exceeded heart-related SICs.

In total, Irish Life paid out in respect of 239 malignant cancer-related claims, more than half to women. In contrast, men were responsible for nine out of 10 heart-related SICs.

There was a notable increase in claims relating to multiple sclerosis, with 19 in 2007 compared with seven in 2006. The majority of MS claims were made by women (11 out of 19).

The survey of 392 SICs shows Irish Life paid out a total of €24.7m in 2007 — an average of more than €63,000 per claim.

Commenting on the survey results, Mr Duffy said cancer remains the greatest single killer “and unfortunately the number of cancer-related specified illness claims continues to rise”.

On the upside, the number of heart-related claims has continued to fall. Mr Duffy said this may be due to earlier diagnosis with people undergoing more regular health screens and taking the appropriate steps to reduce the likelihood of their being incapacitated by a heart attack or other related conditions.

Irish Life, the largest life and specified illness cover provider in the country, paid in excess of €78m in death and specified illness payments in 2007.