LV= paid out nearly £12m for coronavirus-related claims in 2021
Coronavirus-related payments also included £130,000-worth of personal sick pay payouts, the protection specialist said.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Protection specialist LV= has said it paid out nearly £12 million for claims directly related to Covid-19 last year.
LV=’s analysis of its records showed 724 life assurance claims in 2021 totalling £11.3 million were related to Covid-19. Life assurance policies pay out when a policyholder dies.
Coronavirus-related payments also included £130,000-worth of personal sick pay payouts, £84,000-worth of critical illness payments and £64,000-worth of income protection payouts.
This made around £11.6 million payments in total related to Covid-19.
LV= said life assurance claims (including terminal illness and 50-plus claims) totalled nearly £74 million, supporting more than 6,600 families and their loved ones.
In 2021, Covid continued to dominate our lives and was a key element in our claims experience across multiple products. We do expect to see these claims reduce as we continue to live with the virus and testing decreases
The main causes for claims were cancer (39%), Covid-19 (16%) and heart-related conditions (15%), the insurer said.
In total, LV= said it paid record individual protection claims totalling more than £119 million during 2021.
It supported more than 9,000 claimants and their families, paying 96% of all individual protection claims including life, critical illness and income protection.
LV= said some claims were not paid for a variety of reasons, including failing to disclose existing medical conditions, misrepresentation and fraud, and not meeting the policy definitions.
Claims for personal sick pay protection, which is designed for self-employed and contract workers, totalled more than £2.7 million. The youngest claimant was aged 19 and the top reasons for claims were musculoskeletal (37%), Covid-19 (21%) and fractures (11%).
Anna Rogers, head of underwriting and claims at LV=, said: “In 2021, Covid continued to dominate our lives and was a key element in our claims experience across multiple products. We do expect to see these claims reduce as we continue to live with the virus and testing decreases.
“Those in the industry know that supporting individuals and their families going through a life-changing event is the reason why we do what we do.
“The LV= wealth and wellbeing monitor revealed that one in four didn’t have protection insurance because they didn’t know enough about it. We still have some way to go to build public trust and demonstrate just how important protection is.”