Irish Life paid out 11% more cancer related life insurance and specified illness claims in 2018 compared to 2017, according to the company’s annual report.
Irish Life paid out almost €300m to 6,900 people last year in life insurance, illness and injury claims.
50% of life insurance claims, 60% of serious illness claims and 20% of income protection claims were cancer-related.
Speaking to RTÉ, Martin Duffy, Head of Underwriting and Protection Claims with Irish Life Retail, said there were a number of potential explanations for the increase.
“I suppose as the population gets older, there are more incidents of cancers,” he said.
“We have more people working now, so more people are taking cover, and we have quite enhanced screening programmes, that are well established, which detect cancers early, and so obviously we see claims as a result of those as well.”
The average payment on life insurance was approximately €66,000.
Around 50% of people in Ireland have no life insurance cover at all while 1 in 5 has cover against a specified illness. 1 in 8 has income protection.
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Take care,
The Team at Gallivan Financial