Standard Life denies fewer critical illness claims

Standard Life has released figures which show that it declined fewer critical illness insurance claims last year.

The insurer said that declined claims dropped by 7.5 per cent last year and that the average pay-out was £52,138, while its largest was for £500,000.

"There is often a stigma associated with critical illness plans that they don't pay out, yet we paid over 90 per cent of our customer claims last year," commented Mick James, protection marketing manager at Standard Life.

However, while there was a "dramatic reduction" in the number of declined claims in 2006, Mr James said it was too early to tell if this was a trend.

According to the insurer, 3.3 per cent of claims were declined as they did not meet policy definitions, while 4.2 per cent were declined owing to non-disclosure, highlighting the importance of full disclosure when taking out critical illness insurance.

Last year, Standard Life declined 18 per cent of claims, where eight per cent were because of non-disclosure.

"Our work to improve the questions being asked on application forms and the additional warnings highlighting the need for full disclosure by customers is starting to reap benefits in fewer claims being declined," added Mr James.

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