25% will get serious illness
The figures are part of a claims analysis by life assurance company Irish Life that has paid out more than €1 billion in death, specified illness and income protection claims to 30,000 families over the past five years.
In the last year alone the firm paid out more than €230m to almost 8,000 families, according to an analysis of its claims book.
Malignant cancer (45%) and heart complaints (19%) were the biggest cause of claims made in 2010, with breast cancer the single biggest cause of specified illness cover claims.
Cancer was the cause of death in claims for 51% of women and 40% of men.
One-in-three specified illness claims are made by people aged 40 or under and one in 10 are the result of accidental or unintended death.
Men are four times more likely than women to die of a heart condition and 10 times more likely to claim for heart problems under specified illness cover.
Irish Life head of claims, Martin Duffy, described the figures as “extraordinary” and showed how crucial it was for people to have protections to ensure their families were financially secure in the future.
Road traffic accidents accounted for almost a quarter of accident-related claims last year, with alcohol involved in 11% of accident claims settled by Irish Life.
“It seems clear that we still have some way to go in educating people about the relationship between fatal accidents and alcohol,” said Mr Duffy.
The average payment for death claims was €60,000 while the largest payment at €1.9m was to the family of a man in his early 60s who died of bowel cancer.
Early payments included €377,000 paid to a family of a man in his 30s who died in a traffic accident — his policy had been in place for just seven months.
Also, €110,000 was paid to the family of a man in his 40s who died in a workplace accident and whose policy was in place for just three months.
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