Scottish Provident's "Critical Illness Claims Report" released today reveals it paid out nearly £94 million to critical illness policy holders during 2009.
The report shows that 91.3% of all claims were paid by the Glasgow based insurer, and just 1.7% of claims were declined due to non-disclosure, one of the lowest figures in the market.
The average payout was nearly £76,000, with the largest payout just under £850,000. The average age of claimants was 46 years old, with the oldest claimant being 73 years old.
Over the course of the year over £60 million was paid out for cancer claims and over £10 million in claims for heart attacks. Cancer accounted for 62% of total claims paid, with heart attacks making up 12% of the claims. Women accounted for 61% of cancer claims, compared to only 39% of men. Men were more likely to make a critical illness claim due to a heart attack, with 83% of them making a claim, compared to a lower figure of 17% of women.
Susan Barclay, head of marketing at Scottish Provident said:
"Having such a low non-disclosure rate highlights the success of our commitment to helping intermediaries ensure that their clients disclose everything upfront. By improving our literature, we've been able to encourage all information to be disclosed at application stage, ensuring policies pay out when they're needed most. "
