Summary
An innovative new insurance policy has been marketed by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The new policy offers lower premiums to vegetarians, based on evidence that they are at a lesser risk than their carnivore counterparts of developing certain health conditions. It remains to be seen whether other insurance firms will follow the example set by AFI .
A not for profit insurance firm has marketed a scheme which offers vegetarians and egg eaters a reduced premium life insurance.
The offer, considered to be the first of its kind, is being marketed by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The business is offering veggies a 6% cheaper premiumon life assurance premiums
The firm claimed that vegetarians ought to pay less for the product, which pays out if the person were to die, because they were less likely to suffer from a range of chronic diseases, including cancers.
Amanda Jude, AFI’s managing director, claims that the risk of veggies being diagnosed with certain cancers is reduced by up to 40% and the risk of them suffering from heart disease is cut by up to 32 per cent, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay identical insurance costs as people who eat meat.
She says that Animal Friends Insurance believe this is not fair and says the insurers should recognise the fact that being a veggie can create have a significant effect on life expectancy and reduce its monthly premiums accordingly.
A normal arrangement is also on the market for non-vegetarians. Both insurance policies are brought to the market by LV=, which prior, was known as Liverpool Victoria.
In common with normal life policies, a range of aspect contribute to the cost of the monthly premium including whether the applicant smokes, their age, sex and weight.
Currently, Animal Friends Insurance is making the six per cent lower price itself from the fee it earns from from LV=. In the future, however, the firm’s objective was to offer lower costs on specialist policies. In making the discount the business is hoping to sign up enough veggies to make it worthwhile for LV= to underwrite another policy that takes the veggie diet into account.
Indeed there are welcome savings to be had, a 42-year-oldnon-smoker wanting £300,000 worth of life insurance cover might potentially save £393.60 over a twenty year period.
Where serious illness insurance is concerned, AFI considers that insurers should start to treat those that like meat and non-meat eaters in ways that are similar to the way they view non-smokers and smokers. Perhaps other companies in the insurance industry will do the same.
Some managersin the insurance industry doubt whether there is any proof that veggies live longer, and how any insurer could prove that people who had applied stating that they were veggies did not sometimes enjoy the odd lamb chop.
When it comes to smoking, it’s true that there are your Doctor’s records – if you do smoke it’s possible that your GP is likely to know. But this isn’t the case when it comes to eating meat, an insurance executive observed.
But many veggetarians say that they are not concerned about people falling off the vegetarian ways and suggested that once a veggie has become a veggie, they do not regress to meat-eating, that is unlike smokers who tend to drift out and back again into their habit.
