Johannesburg - Covid-19 accounted for 60% of the value of Discovery Life death claims in 2021, making the pandemic the single highest cause of death in any given year since 2012.
“Put differently, Covid-19 almost tripled the rand amount of death claims during 2021 compared to pre-pandemic levels,” Discovery Life said.
In its annual claims review released on Tuesday morning, the insurance giant said that a total of R11.79 billion was paid out in claims by Discovery Life in the 2021 calendar year including individual and Group Life clients.
A total of R9.1 billion was paid through over 10,000 Individual Life claims during the year. Covid-19 claims on both Group and Individual Life policies over 2020 and 2021 totalled R6.5 billion, with R3.8 billion having been paid in 2021 alone on Individual life policies, the report found.
Discovery Life also returned R1.3 billion in 2021 to clients in the form of PayBacks for making healthy lifestyle choices, bringing the total amount paid in PayBack till 2021, to R9.1 billion.
The latest discovery life report also found that R64 million worth of income was paid out under the Income Continuation Benefit in relation to Covid-19, and over R4.5 million was paid in 2021 to cover the education costs of children due to their parents passing on or being severely ill from COVID-19.
The annual claims review also found that only one Covid-19 death had been recorded among Gold and Diamond Vitality status clients.
These were individuals who are fully vaccinated which Gareth Friedlander, deputy chief executive officer at Discovery Life, said demonstrated, “the combined positive impact of healthy living and vaccination.”
“At least 75% of Discovery Life clients are vaccinated against Covd-19 compared to the national rate of 32% and Discovery Life has not received a single claim as a result of a vaccination side effect,” Discovery Life said.
“Our 2021 claims data shows how we continue to live out our core purpose of making people healthier and enhancing and protecting their lives,” said Riaan van Reenen, CEO of Discovery Life.
“The volume and wide variety of claims as well as value returned to clients for healthy behaviour reveals an all-round positive impact on the lives of clients.”
Reenen added that Discovery Life also proactively contacted clients to make them aware of a valid claimable event through their Proactive Claims Feature, that is built into all their policies.
“This feature is enabled through integration with Discovery Health, and is particularly relevant in the case of less severe health events, where clients may not be aware that they qualify for a valid life insurance claim,” he said.
In addition, through Individual and Group Life benefits combined, nearly 1900 children’s education costs are currently being funded through the Global Education Protector and in 2021, saw R56 million paid to cover the education costs of children due to a parent or guardian suffering an adverse life event.
Discovery Life said that currently over 36,000 children are covered on Individual life policies through this benefit.
“The unique University Funder Benefit, which channels surplus created through healthy behaviour of parents to fund up to 100% of their children’s university education costs, is projected to provide R3.4bn in funding for tertiary education of these children over time.
“‘This is yet another example of how Discovery Life is enabling our clients to monetise and derive value from looking after their health and wellbeing.”
In the past year, Discovery Life also paid 122 claims for child severe illnesses for the children of clients with the insurer’s Severe Illness Benefit.
“This speaks to the relevance of bespoke insurance cover for children, which Discovery Life provides through the Child Protector Benefit, which provides cover from birth and pays 100% on all childhood cancers.”
The Discovery Life report also found that the insurer also paid R534m to 2985 claimants in 2021 for the Income Continuation Benefit, and expects to pay a further R2.5bn to current claimants in the future.
“More than 1300 of these claims were for Covid-19 and excluding healthcare professionals on the frontline, there was more than a 500% increase from 2020 in ICB-claims amounts for other professionals in 2021 as more variants emerged.”
Meanwhile, Icon, the Independent Clinical Oncology Network of South Africa, has rated Discovery Life’s Lifetime Severe Illness Benefit as the number one insurance benefit for cancer protection in the market.
“Cancer is now the leading cause of severe illness for men and women, accounting for half of all Severe Illness Benefit-claims by women, and a third of all claims by men,” Discovery Life said.
“Breast cancer and prostate cancer remain the most prevalent amongst our clients claiming for cancer.”
Friedlander also made reference to the issue of mental health: “Our claims data shows that mental health concerns are not specific to any one age group.
‘In 2021 alone, Discovery Life recorded an 18% increase in the number of suicides year-on-year, with R405 million paid in claims related to mental and behavioural conditions and suicides.
“In the last four years, our data shows that the number of suicides is more than 25% percent higher than in the four years before that.”
Friedlander also revealed data evidencing that healthier living, through increased engagement with Vitality, does lead to a general drop in morbidity and mortality.
“In 2021, Gold and Diamond Vitality members experienced 59% lower mortality risk compared to clients who did not engage with Vitality,” he said.
“Vitality-engaged Discovery Life clients experienced 37% lower disability rates, showing that positive behaviour change is vital in mitigating health risks.”
Friedlander added that engagement in health and wellness had also reduced the risk of death from COVID-19 for our Diamond Vitality status clients by as much as 85%.
“In 2021, Discovery Life became the first life insurer globally to reward clients for being vaccinated against Covid-19, dovetailing Discovery’s leading position as the single largest private sector contributor to South Africa’s national vaccination drive,” he said.
“To incentivise vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic, new clients were guaranteed their maximum PayBack in the first year of their policy through the Vaccination Max PayBack limited offer.”
This initiative has been nominated for a global Innovation in Insurance award by Efma and Accenture.
“The vaccination drive has yielded extremely positive results and 75% of Discovery Life’s book is at least partially vaccinated against Covid-19.
“The record levels of claims payments to clients during 2021 demonstrates the immense value that Discovery Life’s disability, severe illness and life insurance adds to families, businesses and society,” Reenen said.
“The longer-term impact of COVID-19 remains uncertain, and we urge everyone to make sure that they have sufficient cover to protect against unexpected life changing events. Life insurance has seldom been more valuable than at present.”