Summary
An interesting new product has been marketed by Animal Friends Insurance. The life insurance policy offers discounted premiums to vegetarians, based on evidence that they are at a lower risk than their meat-eating counterparts of developing certain medical conditions. It remains to be seen whether other insurers will follow the lead set by Animal Friends Insurance .
A none profit insurance firm has marketed a scheme which offers vegetarians and fish-eaters a reduced cost life insurance quote .
The deal, thought to be the first of its kind, is being brought to the market by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The organisation is offering non-meat eaters a 6 per cent reduction in priceon life assurance premiums
The company said that vegetarians ought to pay a lower amount for the insurance, which pays out if the person dies, because they were less likely to suffer from a selection of serious conditions, including cancers.
Rebecca Puttey, a director at AFI, claims that the danger of vegetarians being diagnosed with certain cancers is shrunk by up to 42 per cent and the possibility of them suffering from heart disease is lowered by up to 30%, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay identical insurance premiums as policyholders who eat meat.
She says that AFI believe that this is unfair and says the life insurance industry should acknowledge the fact that being a vegetarian can create have a positive influence on life expectancy and cut its charges accordingly.
A standard policy is also on the market for meat eaters. Both plans are underwritten by LV=, which used to be known as Liverpool Victoria.
In common with normal life cover, a range of aspect contribute to the cost of the premiums including whether the applicant smokes, their weight, age and sex.
At the moment, AFI is carrying the 6 per cent reduction in price itself from the commission it earns from from LV=. In the future, however, the business’s aim was to offer lower premiums on specialist insurance plans. In making the offer the firm is hoping to sign up enough veggies to make it economically viable for LV= to underwrite another insurance policy that takes the vegetarian’s diet into account.
Indeed there are significant savings to be made, a forty-year-oldnon-smoker wanting £300,000 worth of life insurance cover might potentially save £393.60 over a 20-year period.
Where critical illness is concerned, AFI considers that life insurance companies should begin to treat meat eaters and those that do not eat meat in approaches matching the way they approach non-smokers and smokers. We hope that that other companies in the insurance industry will follow the initiative.
Some senior executivesin the insurance industry are doubtful whether there is any proof that veggies live longer, and how any life insuranec company would know that those who had certified that they are vegetarian did not munch on an occasional bacon sandwich.
When it comes to smoking, the insurance company can refer to your GP’s patient records – if you do smoke it’s probable that your Doctor will be aware. But this does not apply when it comes to eating meat, an insurance executive observed.
But many veggies argue that they are not worried about people falling off the veggie ways and suggested that once a vegetarian has become a veggie, they don’t regress to meat-eating, unlike those that smoke who tend to drift out and back again into their habit.