Vegetarians Fed Life Insurance Carrot
Summary
An innovative new insurance policy has been introduced by Animal Friends Insurance. The life insurance 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 organisations will follow the policy introduced by AFI .
A no-profit insurance business has launched an insurance plan which offers vegetarians and fish-eaters a reduced premium life insurance premium .
The deal, thought to be the first of its kind, is being marketed by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The business is offering non-meat eaters a 6 per cent lower priceon life insurance cover premiums
The company said that vegetarians ought to pay a lesser sum for the insurance cover, which pays out if the plan holder dies, because they were less likely to suffer from a list of chronic illnesses, including some cancers.
Amanda Jude, AFI’s managing director, said that the risk of vegetarians being diagnosed with certain cancers is shrunk by up to forty two per cent and the possibility of them suffering from heart disease is reduced by up to thirty per cent, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay broadly the same insurance costs as plan holders who eat meat.
She says that AFI think that this is patently unfair and says the insurers should recognise the concept that being a veggie can make have a positive influence on life expectancy and cut its monthly premiums accordingly.
A standard plan is also on the market for non-vegetarians. Both insurance plans are brought to the market by LV=, which prior, was known as Liverpool Victoria.
In common with normal life plans, a range of aspect contribute to the cost of the premium including whether the applicant smokes, their age, sex and weight.
Currently at the moment, AFI is carrying the 7% cheaper premium itself from the payment it earns from from LV=. In the future, however, the firm’s aim was to offer lower premiums on specialist cover. In making the offer the business is hoping to sign up enough vegetarians to make it viable for LV= to underwrite another policy that takes the veggie diet into account.
Indeed there are huge savings to be had, a forty-year-oldnon-smoker wanting £300,000 worth of life cover might potentially save £393.60 over a 25-year period.
Where cheap life insurance is concerned, AFI believes that life insurance companies should start to treat people that eat meat and non-meat eaters in a way that is similar to the way they approach non-smokers and smokers. It is to be hoped that other companies in the insurance industry will do something similar.
Some managersin the insurance industry doubt whether there is any proof that veggies live longer, and how any insurance company could prove that people who had applied stating that they are vegetarian did not enjoy the occasional Big Mac.
When it comes to smoking, the insurance company can refer to your GP’s patient records - if you now don’t smoke it’s likely that your Doctor will know. But this won’t apply when it comes to eating meat, an said a spokesperson from the insurance industry.
But many veggetarians say that they are not worried about people falling off the vegetarian wagon and suggested that once a vegetarian has become a vegetarian, they don’t regress to meat-eating, that is unlike those that smoke who tend to drift in and out of their habit.