Vegetarians Fed Life Insurance Carrot
Summary
An interesting new insurance product has been launched by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The new policy offers lower premiums to vegetarians, based on evidence that they are at a lower risk than their carnivorous counterparts of developing certain diseases. It remains to be seen whether other insurance firms will follow the example set by AFI .
A not-for-profit insurance business has launched a scheme which offers fish-eaters and vegetarians a reduced price critical illness .
The offer, thought to be the first of its type, is being marketed by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The business is offering vegetarians a seven per cent cheaper premiumon life assurance premiums
The firm said that vegetarians ought to pay a lower amount for the product, which pays out if the person were to die, because they were less likely to suffer from a selection of serious conditions, including cancers.
Sheils Hatline, A senior director at Animal Friends Insurance, claims that the danger of vegetarians being diagnosed with certain cancers is shrunk by up to 40% and the danger of them suffering from heart disease is cut by up to 32%, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay the same insurance costs as policyholders who eat meat.
She says that Animal Friends Insurance believe that this is unfair and says the life industry should acknowledge the idea that being a vegetarian can create a positive impact on life expectancy and reduce its monthly charges accordingly.
A normal plan is also on the market for meat eaters. Both insurance plans are sold by LV=, which was known as Liverpool Victoria.
In common with normal life plans, a range of things contribute to the cost of the premiums including whether the applicant smokes, their sex, weight and age.
Currently at the moment, Animal Friends Insurance is making the six per cent price reduction itself from the cash it earns from from LV=. In the future, however, the company’s aim was to offer lower premiums on specialist insurance cover. In making the offer the firm is hoping to sign up enough vegetarians to make it cost effective for LV= to underwrite another plan that takes the vegetarian’s diet into account.
Indeed there are huge savings to be had, a forty-year-oldnon-smoker purchasing £300,000 worth of insurance cover might potentially save £393.60 over a 20-year term.
Where critical illness insurance is concerned, AFI believes that life insurance companies should begin to treat those that like meat and non-meat eaters in ways that are similar to the way they approach smokers and non-smokers. Hopefully others in the insurance industry will follow the initiative.
It is thought that some executivesin the insurance industry do not believe there is verifyable proof that veggies live longer, and how any insurer would know that people who had stated that they were veggies 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 do smoke it’s likely that your GP is likely to know. But this isn’t the case when it comes to eating meat, an an insurance industry spokesperson observed.
But many veggies argue that they are not concerned about people falling off the vegetarian way of eating and suggested that once a veggie has become a vegetarian, they do not regress to meat-eating, that’s unlike those that smoke who tend to drift out and back again into their habit.