Veggies Given Life Insurance Leg Up

Summary
An interesting new insurance plan has been marketed by Animal Friends Insurance. The new policy offers discounted 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 firms will follow the policy introduced by AFI .

A none profit insurance firm has introducd a scheme which offers egg eaters and vegetarians a reduced cost life cover .

The deal, believed to be the 1st of its kind, is being introduced by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The company is offering vegetarians a 6% cheaper premiumon life assurance premiums
The firm claimed that veggies ought to pay a lesser sum for the product, which pays out if the plan holder dies, because they were less likely to suffer from a range of chronic diseases, including cancers.

Amanda Jude, a director at AFI, claims that the risk of vegetarians 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 thirty two per cent, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay the same life insurance premiums as customers who eat meat.
She says that AFI believe that this is patently unfair and says the life organisations should recognise the concept that being a veggie can create have a significant effect on life expectancy and lower its monthly charges accordingly.

A standard policy is also on the market for non-vegetarians. Both plans are marketed by LV=, which was known as Liverpool Victoria.

In common with standard life policies, a range of factors contribute to the cost of the monthly premium including whether the applicant smokes, their age, weight and sex.

Currently, Animal Friends Insurance is funding the seven per cent discount itself from the payment it gets from LV=. In the future, however, the business’s objective was to offer lower premiums on specialist insurance cover. In making the discount the company is hoping to sign up enough vegetarians to make it cost effective for LV= to underwrite yet another plan that takes the veggie diet into account.

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

Where life insurance is concerned, AFI believes that insurers should start to treat those that eat meat and people that don’t eat meat in approaches matching the way they view non-smokers and smokers. Perhaps other companies in the insurance industry will follow the initiative.

Some peoplein the insurance industry are doubtful whether there is verifyable proof that veggies live longer, and how any insurance company could prove that those who had applied stating that they are vegetarian did not eat the odd spare rib.

When it comes to smoking, the insurance company can refer to your Doctor’s records – if you now don’t smoke it’s likely that your Doctor would be aware. However, this is unlikely to apply when it comes to eating meat, an executive from the insurance industry commented.

But many veggies argue that they are not worried about people falling off the veggie way of eating and suggested that once a vegetarian has become a veggie, they do not regress to meat-eating, that’s unlike people who smoke who tend to drift in and out of their habit.