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Skandia releases CI claims stats

27 October 2009 Breaking News

Skandia paid out 92% of critical illness claims made between January and July this year, up from 89% last year.

Claims not paid were due to the illness definition not being met, with none turned down due to non-disclosure. Skandia has attributed this to its underwriting system and the provision of a helpline, online support and a thorough medical disclosure form.

Cancer and heart attacks are the most common cause of claims. The two most common types of cancer claims are breast cancer (28%) and prostate cancer (10%). At the time of a cancer-related claim the average claimant is 49 years old and has held their policy for just under six years.

60% of heart-related claims are for heart attack, with coronary artery bypass surgery second (20%) and angioplasty third (11%). The average claimant for a heart attack is aged 51 and has had a policy for six years.

Skandia's critical illness product automatically includes children's cover. If the child of a policyholder is diagnosed with one of the listed critical illness, the policyholder can claim with no reduction to the ongoing cover. Cancer (65%) is the most claimed for child illness followed by bacterial meningitis (9%) and benign brain tumours (5%). On average, a child is seven years old when a claim is made.

Skandia has also paid 100% of Skandia Protect life cover claims (to July 2009) so far this year.

Ian Brown, head of protection marketing at Skandia, said: "As a provider of critical illness cover, we need to make the claims process as straightforward as possible and minimise the chance of the claim being denied. To this end, there is no substitute for being able to pick up the phone and speak directly with the underwriters before a policy is taken out and, as a result of the quality of our underwriting, we have had no claims denied this year due to non-disclosure."

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