NEW 2009 Irish Life Claims information:

We paid more than €¼ billion to 5000 families last year alone

That’s right – in 2009 alone, Irish Life paid out more than €1/4 billion in Income Protection, Specified Illness and Life Cover claims. These claims were paid to 5000 families at a time when they may have needed it most. We want to pay your claim!

In 2009 alone Irish Life paid more than: 

• €34 million in Specified Illness Cover claims
• €47 million in Income Protection claims
• €152 million in Death claims
  

Irish Life insures more people than any other life assurance company in Ireland. Our customers tell us they choose us not just for our leading range of protection products but also for our unrivalled level of customer service.

We are proud that some of our customers wanted to share their claim stories with you.

Payment amounts are based on Irish Life Retail and Irish Life Corporate Business claims 2009.

Providing a safety net

You buy life assurance, specified illness cover or income protection for peace of mind in knowing that you and your family will be protected financially, should anything ever happened to you. You buy life assurance products as a safety net to protect your family’s lifestyle. 

With Irish Life, you are buying family protection, but you also buying the security that if you, or your family, need to make a claim that the process will go as smoothly as possible.

Our Claims Promise

Our promise to you is that we will do everything we can to:

• Pay all valid claims
• Treat all customers fairly
• Deliver on our promises as quickly and efficiently as we can
• Give you the compassion and support you deserve

Our claims payments

Paying claims, as quickly and as efficiently as possible, is something we are committed to. That’s why we have published information about the level and types of claims we have paid again this year.

For example:

• More than 1 in 7 death claims were for customers aged less than 40
• 1 in 5 Specified Illness Cover claims were for people younger than age 40
• Malignant cancer accounts for 78% of Specified illness claims by women
• Malignant breast cancer accounts for 1 in 3 malignant cancer–related claims
• Alcohol was a factor in 1 in 5 accidental or unintended deaths

Charlie Weston, Personal Finance Editor for the Irish Independent, recently published an article on Specified Illness Cover claims. To read this article just click here.

Irish Life Claims 2009

You can find more information in the documents below. These give details of our 2009 claims for Life cover, Specified illness cover, Hospital cash cover, Accident cash cover, and our additional FREE benefits of Children’s cover and Terminal illness cover.

• Life cover claims(pdf 815kb)
• Specified illness cover claims (pdf 926kb)
• Hospital cash cover claims (pdf 854kb)
• Accident cash cover claims (pdf 855 kb)
• Children’s cover claims (pdf 841 kb)
• Terminal illness cover claims (pdf 835kb)

How to make a claim?

We fully understand that it is a very difficult time for our customers and their families when they have to make a claim. That is why we have a team of dedicated claims assessors to help provide support and make the process as straightforward as possible.

• Death Claims
• Specified Illness Claims
• Income Protection Claims
• Hospital Cash Cover Claims
• Accident Cash Cover Claims

In some rare occasions we sometimes cannot pay a claim

The vast majority of claims are paid without any complications. The main problem we encounter is when a customer has failed to reveal a significant medical fact about their state of health when they applied for cover. To help reduce this problem, we are happy to help customers when they apply for cover to make sure they understand what they need to tell us. Please review the content of our ‘Revealing relevant information flyer’ (pdf 138kb) for more information. We also encourage claimants to read the information in their plan documents and terms and conditions, to make sure they understand what is covered.