Critical illness non-disclosure

Mark Jones, protection and actuarial manager at Friends Provident, says; “This is one small step to restore consumer confidence in the valuable benefits critical illness cover provides. Friends Provident is in the protection business to pay valid claims, to be able to do that we rely on the customer to provide us with all the information we need. Where we have found the non-disclosure to be a genuine oversight we will now make an offer based on a proportion of the total claim.”

Friends Provident also revealed its 2006 critical illness claims data.

The company paid 483 critical illness claims totalling just under £28 million in 2006.

Cancers remain the most common cause for a claim.

The average age of a claimant (excluding children’s claims) was 40.

The average critical illness payout in 2006 was over £57,000.

The largest claim paid in 2006 was just over £400,000.

Breakdown of claims received in 2006:

    81.3% of claims were paid
    9.9% of claims were declined due to non-disclosure
    8.8% of claims were declined due to not meeting the policy definition
    594 claims were received and 483 of these claims were paid

Breakdown of causes of claims:

Cause of claim
    

% of 2006 claims
    

% of 2005 claims

Cancer
    

68%
    

65%

Cardiovascular
    

13%
    

16%

Multiple Sclerosis
    

6%
    

4%

Stroke
    

5%
    

6%

Benign Brain Tumour
    

3%
    

2%

Childrenís Critical Illness
    

3%
    

4%

Other
    

2%
    

3%

Claims paid by sex, year ending 2006

Cause of claim
    

Male
    

Female

Cancer
    

54%
    

77%

Cardiovascular
    

25%
    

5%

Stroke
    

8%
    

2%

Benign Brain Tumour
    

5%
    

2%

Multiple Sclerosis
    

4%
    

8%

In 2005 Friends Provident paid 81% of claims, 19% were declined, 13% for non-disclosure and 6% where the definition was not met, 614 claims were received and 494 were paid.