$33 Million Paid Out In Life Claims Every Day

The life insurance industry paid out more than $12 billion to nearly 102,000 Australians during 2019 or almost $33 million to 279 Australians and their families every day of the year, data from the FSC shows.

A statement from the council says it’s using Life Insurance Awareness week as an opportunity to release data which reveals insights into the health of the nation – with Wednesday’s theme being  ‘data’.  

KPMG, on behalf of the FSC, provides in-depth analysis of the causes of life insurance claims – this data is updated every six months.

(Also see: https://peakwm.com.au/how-to-life-insurance for more information on how life insurance works and how it can help you and your family. )

FSC senior policy manager for life insurance, Nick Kirwan says that it’s important to remember that behind every data point there is a human, a family, a loved one getting financial support when they need it most.

“When we see the collective data, and especially the many and varied causes of claim and just how often they occur, it reveals the scale of the human tragedies that Australians and their families can, and all too often do, go through.”

Data insights for the 2019 year shows:

• More than $12 billion was paid out to 101,821 Australians
• For death cover there were 13.4 million covers in force, 97 percent of lodged claims were paid and the highest cause of claim was cancer at 43 percent
• For total and permanent disability (TPD) there were 11.1 million covers in force, 90 percent of lodged claims were paid and the highest cause of claim was mental health at 25 percent
• For income protection/disability income there were 5.8 million covers in force, 95 percent of lodged claims were paid and the highest cause of claim was accidents at 33 percent
• For trauma insurance there were 1.1 million covers in force, 86 percent of lodged claims were paid, and the highest cause of claim was for cancer at 58 percent.