Groundbreaking life cover for Diabetics

Being diagnosed with diabetes is a life changing event, with radical changes required in diet, exercise regime, and potentially the use of prescribed drugs and/or insulin. As a diabetic, accessing life insurance – which is often a prerequisite for home or business loans, or just to provide peace of mind with regards to the financial security of one’s family – may also become exceptionally difficult, not to mention unaffordable. The life policies available to diabetics also often exclude diabetes-related health conditions, or have rapidly escalating premiums which soon render these policies unaffordable.

The reason that available diabetic insurance products are costly and often include complex exclusions is to accommodate the risk of uncontrolled diabetes: this is the risk that the life insured fails to follow recommended medical treatment, and may develop diabetic-related health conditions as a result.

An innovative local life insurance provider is now, however, taking a radically different approach. Using a unique health monitoring system initially developed to provide life cover to individuals living with HIV, AllLife has recently announced the release of a life insurance product for diabetics who can demonstrate diabetic control. “Our ability to monitor the health of the people we insure and to make them aware of potential health problems as they arise, means we can reward our policy holders for good health management, and provide cheaper and more straightforward insurance products” says Ross Beerman, managing director of AllLife.

AllLife launched its range of continuously underwritten life insurance products for people living with HIV in 2005 – a world first for the life insurance industry. The products reward clients for their ongoing health management, rather than penalising them for their past medical history. “We have achieved quite remarkable results with our HIV positive clients”, says Dr Avron Urison, medical director at AllLife, “and based on this success we are now very excited to be able to offer a similar set of products to people living with diabetes.”

“Our clients’ commitment to ongoing health monitoring really makes a big difference in simplifying the process of providing cover,” says Beerman, “Our diabetic clients can obtain a quote on life cover over the phone without needing to provide medical test results up front. We help them stay healthy through ongoing health monitoring, and they don’t have to worry about what health conditions aren’t covered under our policies.”

AllLife’s products are designed to accommodate the financial circumstances and needs of each individual. The monthly premium is based on whether the life insured is diagnosed with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, years elapsed since diagnosis, whether the life insured is a smoker, as well as a commitment to follow the diabetic control monitoring programme. There is no waiting period and up to R5 million of cover is available.

AllLife monitors diabetic control by checking the long-term average blood sugar level using a test known as HbA1C. This test shows to what extent diabetics have kept their blood sugar levels under control over a three to six month period. An HbA1C of 6.0% or lower is regarded as showing excellent control, and the affected individual is less likely to experience complications. In terms of AllLife’s protocols, if the HbA1c level is at 8.5% or lower, the disease is considered to be under control.

Dr Urison says: “Diabetes is a potentially life-threatening disease and, if left untreated or incorrectly managed, the high levels of blood sugar can cause major damage resulting in heart attacks, kidney failure, amputations or even death. That is why AllLife’s insurance product range centres on a commitment to adhere to our diabetic control policy. We monitor our policyholders’ condition and remind them to go for their routine blood tests. We work together with our policyholders to educate them and to ensure that they remain healthy.”

AllLife provides cover for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. Type 1 Diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults under 30, and occurs when the pancreas stops producing insulin.

Type 2 Diabetes is usually diagnosed later in life and occurs when the insulin produced by the pancreas does not work properly or is insufficient. Although not usually life threatening on its own, Type 2 Diabetes can cause serious health complications if untreated.

According to Diabetes SA, there are approximately 3.8 million diabetics in South Africa, of which 85 to 90% are Type 2 diabetics.[1]

“We have had an exceptional impact on the health of our current clients with adherence rates in excess of 98%[2]. After taking out a policy, our HIV+ clients, on average, become 15% healthier[3] after only six months. It appears that just by caring and reminding them that they have a chronic manageable disease and informing them of what they should be doing to manage their health can have a real impact on their quality of life. We hope we can have this kind of an impact on the life and health of diabetics,” says Dr Urison

The following products are offered to both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics:

Whole life insurance: Life cover is offered with no term limit, and may be provided with either level or escalating premiums / cover depending on the chosen product option.

Loan protection insurance: This product provides the most affordable cover for loan finance and is designed to match the outstanding balance on an amortising loan.

Reinsurance will be provided by Gen Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurers and a member of the Berkshire Hathaway Group, owned by Warren Buffett. AllLife is an Authorised Financial Services Provider.