Vitality paid out a total of £82.8m in protection claims in 2021, with a total of 2,012 claims paid across its life and terminal illness, serious illness and income protection products, according to the provider’s claims statistics for 2021.
Life and Terminal Illness
Vitality revealed it paid 99.8% of life and terminal illness claims in 2021, which equated to a total of £54.3m.
Cancer was the most common cause for a Life (incl. terminal illness) claim, followed by cardiovascular illnesses. Notably, claims where Covid was attributed as a factor accounted for the second highest cause of death for women and third highest cause of death for men.
Serious Illness Cover (SIC)
Over the year 91% of serious illness cover claims were paid, equating to £27.9m. One in 13 claims from claimants who had previously claimed on their plan, totalling £2m in claims payments. Of those who had claimed previously, one in five were claiming for the third or more time. Vitality revealed a small number of claims were declined. This was mainly due to not meeting the plan definition, while the remainder were due to non-disclosure or pre-existing conditions preventing a successful claim being made.
Cancer was the most common cause of serious illness cover claim in 2021 for both men and women, however it made up a larger proportion of claims in women, accounting for 70% of all claims compared to 41% for men.
Income Protection
In 2021, 96.5% of income protection claims were paid. Musculoskeletal (MSK) claims were the top reason for a claim (25%) followed closely by cancer (24%) and mental health (21%). Taken together, these accounted for 70% of all claims.
Justin Taurog, managing director of VitalityLife, (pictured) said: “Our 2021 protection claims data clearly demonstrates the crucial role these products are playing in supporting our members – and their families – at the times when they need it most.
“Our product offering is designed with our core purpose, of enhancing and protecting our members’ lives, at its heart. We see the difference this makes to people’s lives in our serious illness cover claims data, where members receive payments they wouldn’t have received elsewhere, and then also go on to continue to have cover in place, should they need it again in the future.”