One third of specified illness claims are by people under age of 50!

02 February 2018
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Irish Life which is Ireland's leading Insurance Company and a subsidiary of the large Canadian Group, Great West Life, recently released statistics on claims in 2017.

Not surprisingly cancer is the main cause of both Life Insurance (42%) and Specified Illness claims (62%), followed by heart conditions which accounted for 10% of deaths and 20% of Specified Illness claims.

Overall, breast cancer was the main type of cancer for Specified Illness claimants.

A third of Specified Illness claims were paid to people under 50 years of age. 

Less than half of women in Ireland have some form of life insurance, serious illness cover or income protection, compared to almost 2 in every 3 men

Specified illness claims the average age for women was just 51 years, compared to 55 years of age for male claims. 

Examples of claims payments made by Irish Life in 2017

• The largest individual Life Insurance claim of €5,075,000 was paid out to the family of a claimant who died of cancer
• €146,000 was paid to the family of a claimant in their 40s who died of cancer shortly after starting a life insurance policy
• An early Specified Illness claim was paid to a claimant in their 30s who had a cancer diagnosis just a few weeks after starting their cover and received a payment of €24,000