Aviva has disclosed it paid out 99.3% of life insurance claims and 92.9% of critical illness claims during 2013.
Of critical illness claims which were not paid, 1.2% were declined due to misrepresentation (non-disclosure), and 5.9% for conditions not met.
Aviva protection customers and their families received more than £505 million through claims on life insurance and critical illness cover in 2013. This equates to around £1.4 million pounds a day, or £961 per minute.
Cancer remains the most common cause of critical illness claims at 67%, followed by heart attack (11%), stroke (6%), multiple sclerosis (5%) and total permanent disability or ‘TPD' (4%).
Aviva said the annual total paid to its life insurance and critical illness customers was the highest to date and shows a steady year-on-year increase. The amount paid to life insurance customers has increased by 61% over the past five years.
During 2013, Aviva paid £347 million to the families of life insurance customers who had died or been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and over £158 million to customers with critical illness (CI) cover.
Robert Morrison, chief underwriter for Aviva says: "For some years now Aviva has been calling on the industry to report claims statistics in a standardised way, so it's great that guidelines have now been introduced by the ABI. With insurers now adhering to this code - or spelling out any reasons for not following it - this will allow customers and advisers to see clearly how providers compare.
"We're also very pleased to see how changes to our protection policies are increasing the number of claims paid. For example, last year we paid out £225,000 to customers with in-situ breast cancer. In 2013 we enhanced definitions around some of our most common critical illness conditions including heart attack, stroke, MS and some cancers. We've also broadened the terminal illness benefit on our life insurance policies so we can only expect to see even more claims paid to our customers in the future."
