Summary
An innovative new insurance plan has been introduced by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The insurance plan offers cheaper premiums to vegetarians, based on evidence that they are at a reduced risk than their carnivorous counterparts of developing certain illnesses. It remains to be seen whether other insurance organisations will follow the lead set by Animal Friends Insurance .
A no-profit insurance business has marketed an insurance scheme which offers fish-eaters and vegetarians a reduced cost cheap life cover .
The deal, thought to be the first of its kind, is being introduced by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The firm is offering veggies a six per cent cheaper premiumon life insurance cover premiums
The company said that vegetarians ought to pay a lesser cost for the cover, which pays out if the person were to die, because they were more unlikely to suffer from a range of chronic diseases, including some cancers.
Sheils Hatline, the managing director of AFI, claims that the risk of vegetarians being diagnosed with certain cancers is lowered by up to forty two per cent and the risk of them suffering from heart disease is cut by up to 32 per cent, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay identical premiums as clients who eat meat.
She says that Animal Friends Insurance believe this is patently unfair and says the life insurance industry should acknowledge the fact that being a veggie can make have a big influence on life expectancy and reduce its monthly premiums accordingly.
A standard plan is also on the market for non-vegetarians. Both insurance policies are brought to the market by LV=, which was previously known as Liverpool Victoria.
In common with standard life plans, a range of things contribute to the cost of the premium including whether the applicant smokes, their sex, weight and age.
Currently at the moment, AFI is funding the six per cent cheaper premium itself from the payment it earns from from LV=. In the future, however, the firm’s objective was to offer lower premiums on specialist insurance cover. In offering the price reduction the business is hoping to sign up enough vegetarians to make it viable for LV= to underwrite yet another insurance plan that takes the veggie diet into account.
Indeed there are welcome savings to be had, a 42-year-oldnon-smoker purchasing £300,000 worth of life insurance might potentially save £393.60 over a 25-year term.
Where life insurance deals is concerned, AFI considers that life insurance companies should try to treat those that like meat and non-meat eaters in approaches matching the way they assess those that smoke and those that don’t. We hope that that other companies in the insurance industry will do the same.
Some senior executivesin the insurance industry doubt whether there is verifyable proof that vegetarians live longer, and how any insurance company would know that people who had certified that they are veggies did not munch on an occasional bacon sandwich.
When it comes to smoking, the insurance company can refer to your Doctor’s records - if you do smoke it’s probable that your Doctor will be aware. However, this is not the case when it comes to eating meat, an executive from the insurance industry commented.
But some veggies contend that they are not worried about people falling off the vegetarian ways and suggested that once a vegetarian has become a vegetarian, they do not go back to meat-eating, that is unlike those that smoke who tend to drift out and back again into their habit.
