Life insurers pay over $12 billion in claims to 101,821 Australians in 2019
The Financial Services Council (FSC) is using Life Insurance Awareness week as an opportunity to release data which reveals interesting insights into the health of the nation. The release can be found on their website. KPMG on behalf of the FSC provides in-depth analysis of the causes of life insurance claims, particularly for Australians of working age – this data is updated every six months.
The life insurance industry paid out more than $12 billion to 101,821 Australians and their families during 2019. Life insurance companies pay out almost $33 million to 279 Australians and their families every single day. Payments are made to people who have lost a partner, a parent or a loved one, or to help people support themselves and their family when they are too ill to work, after a critical illness or who are not expected to be able to work ever again.
What’s important to remember is that behind every data point there is a human, a family, a loved one getting financial support when they need it most. When we see the collective data, and especially the many and varied causes of claim and just how often they occur, it reveals the scale of the human tragedies that Australians and their families can, and all too often do, go through. Data insights for the 2019 year tell us:
- Over $12 billion was paid out to 101,821 Australians;
- For death cover there were 13.4 million covers in force, 97 per cent of lodged claims were paid and the highest cause of claim was cancer at 43 per cent;
- For Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) there were 11.1 million covers in force, 90 per cent of lodged claims were paid and the highest cause of claim was mental health at 25 per cent;
- For Income Protection/Disability Income there were 5.8 million covers in force, 95 per cent of lodged claims were paid and the highest cause of claim was accidents at 33 per cent;
- For Trauma insurance there were 1.1 million covers in force, 86 per cent of lodged claims were paid, and the highest cause of claim was for cancer at 58 per cent;
Data is sourced from the FSC-KPMG life insurance data project and APRA Life insurance claims and disputes statistics.
Please note that information in our news feeds are general information and you should not act on it, or rely on it, without obtaining personal advice. To find out the insurance options that may be best suited to you, contact us here. Always read the product disclosure statement issued by an insurer before considering to take out insurance.
