3 Comments 3 Commentsby Jenny Ruth
AIA paid out more than $197 million in calendar 2023 to those in this age group out of $734.8 million in total claims.
The life and health insurance company says it accepted 92% of claims from its more than 800,000 policyholders.
The bulk of payouts, $87.03 million, to those between 50 and 59 was on life policies with $50.59 million paid to those with cancer. It paid a total of $263.5 million on all life policies in the year with 60% of claims being for cancer.
The insurance company says it planted a tree for every customer who died during the year.
Low claims among the young
Unsurprisingly, only $2.6 million was paid in claims against life policies for those aged 20 to 29, with another $7.7 million paid on health policies.
Heart disease was the second largest category of life claims, accounting for 14% of total claims, with neurological conditions acccounting for 8% and respiratory problems for 5%.
Among the $143.1 million paid out on health policies, musculoskeletal disorders accounted for a quarter and cancer for another 22%, but cancer was the main cause of the $117.1 million paid on trauma policies, accounting fro 61%, with another 17% due to heart problems.
The company paid out $85.5 million on income protection policies and another $17.3 million on permanent disablement policies.
AIA NZ's head of claims, Travis Higgins, says a range of factors influence the claims statistics.
“As people age, they may wish to adjust their insurance cover to meet their changing needs. For example, as people head into retirement, they may have reduced their debt (for example, mortgage) and it could be appropriate to reduce their life cover accordingly,” Higgins says.
While there are fewer claims from younger people, who do tend to be healthier, “it's also fai4r to say there is a large protection gap with this group,” he says. Meaning younger people tend to think they're bulletproof and are therefore less inclined to insure.
Higgins says that life changes, such as buying a home or strating a family can prompt people to take out insurance.
“Cost of living is also a factor, which is why it is important for insuers to offer a good range of products and options to suit people's changing needs at different stages of their lives. We also always encourage people to engage the help of a financial adviser,” he says.
The AIA claims data does clearly demonstrate the risk of serious illness “significantly increases as New Zealanders get older.”
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Otherwise it is like saying most there are more deaths in Auckland than Dunedin.
The need for cover may drop off at the higher ages above say 70 which means less exposure and then less claims than in say the 50s age group.