Liberty pays out over R3.5-billion in valid claims

Dr Philippa Peil, Liberty’s Chief Medical Officer.

Liberty, the largest writer of new risk business since 2002 , and the first insurer to publish its Claim Statistics in 2006, has paid out R3.57 billion in valid claims for the 2015 financial year – delivering on its promise and commitment to protect its customers and their families against life’s uncertainties.

Cancer remains the largest cause for claims with a total of 24.9%, followed by cardiac and cardiovascular conditions at 22.1% of all claims, according to Liberty’s Director for Risk Product Innovation, Nicholas van der Nest. “This result is consistent with prior years where cancer also recorded the largest number of claims,” says van der Nest.

However, there has been a shift in the types of cover linked to cancer, says Liberty’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Philippa Peil.

“With medical advancements such as better screening programmes and more awareness around health and lifestyle, cancers are being diagnosed earlier and at younger ages. The split between cancer payments under critical illness and deaths due to cancer are therefore shifting, with more and more customers qualifying for critical illness payments and surviving longer after diagnosis,” Dr Peil says.

Top claims and types of cover

The vast majority of all Liberty payments, R2.48 billion or 57% of the total claims paid, were for death claims. At least R678 million was paid in respect of critical illness, which provides payment to help customers make the lifestyle adjustments required following diagnosis. A total of R407 million was paid for income protection, including both lump sum and monthly income claims.

“The split of claims paid by benefit type is influenced by the types of benefit that our customers bought. A new inclusion in this year’s report is therefore a breakdown of last year’s sales, which also provides insight to potential customers who are weighing up their insurance needs.”