Summary
An interesting new insurance plan has been marketed by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The life insurance policy offers cheaper premiums to vegetarians, based on evidence that they are at a lower risk than their carnivore counterparts of developing certain medical conditions. It remains to be seen whether other insurance organisations will follow the example set by AFI .
A no-profit insurance business has introducd a scheme which offers egg eaters and vegetarians a reduced premium life cover .
The offer, considered to be the first of its type, is being brought to the market by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The firm is offering vegetarians a 6 per cent cheaper premiumon cheap life cover premiums
The organisation said that veggies ought to pay a lesser cost for the insurance cover, which pays out if the person were to die, because they were more unlikely to suffer from a list of critical illnesses, including some cancers.
Rebecca Puttey, AFI’s senior director, claims that the risk of vegetarians being diagnosed with certain cancers is lowered by up to forty per cent and the risk of them suffering from heart disease is reduced by up to 30%, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay broadly the same insurance costs as plan holders who eat meat.
She says that Animal Friends Insurance believe that this is patently unfair and says the insurance companies should recognise the fact that being a veggie can make a very positive impact on life expectancy and reduce its premiums accordingly.
A normal policy is also on the market for non-vegetarians. Both plans are sold by LV=, which was previously known as Liverpool Victoria.
In common with standard life plans, a range of aspect contribute to the cost of the plans including whether the applicant smokes, their weight, age and sex.
Currently at the moment, Animal Friends Insurance is funding the seven per cent lower price itself from the commission it receives from LV=. In the future, however, the business’s aim was to offer lower premiums on specialist insurance cover. In the business is hoping to sign up enough vegetarians to make it cost effective for LV= to underwrite yet another policy that takes the vegetarian’s diet into account.
Indeed there are worthwhile savings to be made, a 40-year-oldnon-smoker buying £300,000 worth of insurance cover might potentially save £393.60 over a 25-year period.
Where cheap life insurance is concerned, AFI believes that life insurers should begin to treat people that eat meat and those that do not eat meat in ways that are similar to the way they view smokers and non-smokers. Perhaps other companies in the insurance industry will take the same initiative.
Some senior executivesin the insurance industry are dismissive that there is robust proof that vegetarians live longer, and how any life insurer could prove that applicants who had applied stating that they were veggies did not savour the occasional rump steak.
When it comes to smoking, it’s true that there are your Doctor’s records – if you do smoke it’s certainly likely that your GP is likely to know about it. But this does not apply when it comes to eating meat, an insurance executive said.
But many veggies argue that they are not worried about people falling off the veggie way of eating and suggested that once a vegetarian has become a veggie, they don’t return to meat-eating, that is unlike applicants who smoke who tend to drift out and back again into their habit.