It said the firm paid out 806 individual claims in 2013, with more than £65.2m handed over in total. This compared to 744 in 2012 at a value of £59.9m. The largest single claim paid out was for £1m.
Zurich said 4.8% of claims were declined due to the definition of the condition not being met, down from 7.9% in 2012, while 1% were declined because of non-disclosure – the same as for the previous year.
Of the top four conditions covered, 60% of payments were made for cases of cancer, (which represented 62% of claims in 2012 and 58% in 2011).
Heart attack claims were the next most common and accounted for 13% (unchanged from 2012); stroke was 9% (up from 7% in 2012); and multiple sclerosis was 5% (compared to 4% in 2012).
Rhys Dudding, European chief claims officer at Zurich, said: “There’s a perception in the market that pay out rates for critical illness insurance claims are low. However, our claims record shows that the vast majority of claims are settled successfully and swiftly with the amounts awarded growing each year.”
IFA and senior partner at Master Adviser, Roy McLoughlin, added: “The industry continues to move in the welcome direction of all genuine claims being paid out.”
Zurich publishes both annual and six monthly critical illness and income protection claims statistics.
