Vegetarians Given Life Insurance Incentive

Summary
An innovative new insurance policy has been introduced by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The new policy offers cheap premiums to vegetarians, based on evidence that they are at a reduced risk than their carnivore counterparts of developing certain diseases. It remains to be seen whether other insurance organisations will follow the policy introduced by AFI .

A no-profit insurance business has introducd an insurance plan which offers vegetarians and egg eaters a reduced cost life cover .

The offer, thought to be the 1st of its type, is being introduced by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The company is offering vegetarians a 6 per cent discounton life insurance premiums
The organisation said that vegetarians ought to pay a lesser sum for the insurance cover, which pays out if the plan holder were to die, because they were less likely to suffer from a range of very serious illnesses, including some cancers.

Elaine Fair, AFI’s senior director, claims that the danger of veggies being diagnosed with certain cancers is reduced by up to 40 per cent and the risk of them suffering from heart disease is cut by up to 30 per cent, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay broadly the same life insurance premiums as customers who eat meat.
She says that AFI believe this is unfair and says the life industry should acknowledge the concept that being a vegetarian can make a positive impact on life expectancy and lower its charges accordingly.

A standard policy is also on the market for meat eaters. Both plans are sold by LV=, which was known as Liverpool Victoria.

In common with normal life cover, a range of factors contribute to the cost of the premiums including whether the applicant smokes, their age, sex and weight.

Currently, AFI is making the 7% price reduction itself from the payment it receives from LV=. In the future, however, the company’s objective was to offer lower costs on specialist cover. In offering the deal the business is hoping to sign up enough veggies to make it viable for LV= to underwrite another plan that takes the vegetarian’s diet into account.

Indeed there are huge savings to be made, a 38 year oldnon-smoker buying £300,000 worth of insurance cover might potentially save £393.60 over a twenty year term.

Where life insurance is concerned, AFI thinks that life insurance companies should try to treat those that like meat and those that do not eat meat in approaches matching the way they assess smokers and non-smokers. Perhaps other companies in the insurance industry will follow the initiative.

Some peoplein the insurance industry are dismissive that there is any proof that veggies live longer, and how any life insuranec company would know that people who had certified that they are vegetarian did not eat the odd spare rib.

When it comes to smoking, it’s true that there are your Doctor’s records – if you do smoke it’s certainly likely that your GP would know. But this won’t apply when it comes to eating meat, an said a spokesperson from the insurance industry.

But many veggies argue that they are not concerned about people falling off the vegetarian wagon and suggested that once a veggie has become a vegetarian, they do not regress to meat-eating, that is unlike those that smoke who tend to drift out and back again into their old smoking ways.