An Irish life insurance company has conducted a study that implicates cancer as the foremost reason for life insurance claims during the course of 2007.
Irish Life, one of the largest Irish life insurers, indicates that malignant cancers were the most common reason that policyholders claimed on life insurance . They found that some 60 per cent of specified illness cover payments were related to cancer, particularly amongst women.
The head of underwriting at Irish Life, Martin Duffy, reportedly commented: "Last year we paid out more than 78m in death and specified illness claims . Cancer still remains the greatest single killer and unfortunately the number of cancer-related specified illness claims continues to rise. The number of heart-related claims, however, has continued to fall. This may be due to earlier diagnosis of the condition, with people undergoing more regular health screens."




