The 4 Most Common Life Cover Claims

We all know that we need some kind of insurance. It’s a fact of life. Having insurance in place will give you the peace of mind you need when a life-changing or life-threatening event occurs. And it will secure your family’s financial future. Yet few people know what the most common life cover claims are.

But have you ever considered what life cover claims you might possibly request should you ever need to? Most of us simply pay our premiums each month and never give the actual claims process a second thought. However, Discovery Life records give an overview of the most common claims their clients make.

Life Cover

Typically, insured folk make life cover claims for conditions you would expect:

  • cancer
  • heart and artery
  • respiratory
  • nervous system
  • gastrointestinal complications
  • infection
  • urogenital tract and kidney
  • endocrine and
  • metabolic diseases.

But did you know that claims are most commonly made for death due to unnatural causes? These claims range from motor vehicle accidents to suicide, crime-related incidents, aircraft accidents, and drowning. What is so astonishing about this statistic is its high percentage – 25%. That percentage is the same as claims made for cancer, and higher than claims made for heart and artery disease.

What this shows is that there is a definite need for life cover, irrespective of your age or health status. As fit and healthy as you may be, circumstances could one day be beyond your control.  So having life cover in place could help lessen the impact of such an event for your family.

Capital Disability Cover

Having Capital Disability Cover will protect you against the financial consequences of becoming disabled, giving you a lump-sum payout to help with day-to-day living and your potential inability to perform your job.

Discovery Life clients who claim against their Capital Disability Cover policies usually do so for conditions including nervous system, musculoskeletal, cancer, mental and behavioural, cardiovascular, digestive system, respiratory, renal system and trauma. Overall, 20% of Capital Disability claims made are for mental, behavioural and back conditions, highlighting the importance of taking out cover with no explicit exclusions of these conditions.

While the likelihood of disability increases as you get older, in reality disability events affect the whole age spectrum. In 2013, 33% of all capital disability claims were made by clients younger than 40 – which just goes to show that no matter how young or old you are, having disability cover in place isn’t just an option, it’s a necessity.

Severe Illness Benefit

The Discovery Life Severe Illness Benefit covers all major bodily systems with no gaps in cover, and provides automatic cover for your children and parents as well, ensuring that you and your family are protected, should you ever need to make a claim.

Over the years we’ve seen claims made for a variety of illnesses, such as cancer, heart and artery, nervous system, connective tissue disorder, musculoskeletal, eye, respiratory, urogenital tract and kidney, gastrointestinal, and ear, nose and throat.

What this tells us is that comprehensive severe illness cover is necessary because while 65% of claims made are either for heart and artery disease, or a form of cancer, the remaining 35% are made for conditions affecting other areas of the body. This is why it is critical to have a Severe Illness Benefit that covers all bodily systems, allowing you to make effective claims against these illnesses, and use your payouts to help live more comfortably.

Simple, speedy, successful life cover claims

Over the years, we’ve learned that the test of any life insurance company is the claims process. That’s why at Discovery Life, our number one goal is to take care of you, no matter what condition you may be claiming for. To date we have paid out over R10.3 billion in claims, with more than R1.9 billion going to our clients in 2013 alone. No-one can know what the future may hold, but with Discovery Life by your side, you’ll be as well-prepared for it as you possibly can.

Speak to your financial adviser today or find out more about our Severe Illness Benefit and Capital Disability Benefit.

Alternatively, you can view our Severe Illness Benefit and Capital Disability Benefit videos.

Article courtesy of Discovery Life.

 

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All info was correct at time of publishing