v8rider.net

Summary
An innovative new insurance policy has been introduced by Animal Friends Insurance. The new policy offers lower premiums to vegetarians, based on evidence that they are at a reduced risk than their meat-eating counterparts of developing certain medical conditions. It remains to be seen whether other insurers will follow the policy introduced by AFI .

A no-profit insurance business has launched an insurance plan which offers vegetarians and fish-eaters a reduced premium life insurance cover.

The offer, thought to be the first of its type, is being pioneered by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The organisation is offering vegetarians a six per cent lower priceon mortgage cover premiums
The organisation claimed that vegetarians ought to pay a lesser sum for the product, which pays out if the policyholder were to die, because they were more unlikely to suffer from a selection of serious conditions, including cancers.

Sheils Hatline, AFI’s senior director, said that the risk of vegetarians being diagnosed with certain cancers is shrunk by up to 42 per cent and the possibility of them suffering from heart disease is lowered by up to 32 per cent, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay identical insurance costs as policyholders who eat meat.
She says that AFI believe this is unfair and says the insurance companies should recognise the fact that being a vegetarian can impose have a positive influence on life expectancy and cut its premiums accordingly.

A standard policy is also on the market for meat eaters. Both insurance policies are brought to the market by LV=, which used to be known as Liverpool Victoria.

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

Currently, AFI is making the 7% price reduction itself from the money it receives from LV=. In the future, however, the company’s objective was to offer lower costs on specialist insurance plans. In the company is hoping to sign up enough vegetarians to make it worthwhile for LV= to underwrite another insurance plan that takes the vegetarian’s diet into account.

Indeed there are welcome savings to be had, a forty two year oldnon-smoker buying £300,000 worth of insurance cover might potentially save £393.60 over a twenty year period.

Where life insurance quotes is concerned, AFI believes that insurance companies should try to treat meat eaters and people that don’t eat meat in ways that are similar to the way they view non-smokers and smokers. Perhaps others in the insurance industry will do something similar.

It is thought that some senior managersin the insurance industry doubt whether there is robust proof that veggies live longer, and how any life insurer could prove that those who had applied stating that they are veggies did not eat the odd spare rib.

It’s true that when it comes to smoking there are GP records – if you now don’t smoke it’s possible that your Doctor will 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 ways and suggested that once a vegetarian has become a vegetarian, they don’t go back to meat-eating, that is unlike those that smoke who tend to drift in and out of their habit.