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Old Mutual has paid out more than R14.7 billion in claims.
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Insurance giant Old Mutual has revealed that it paid an average of R59 million per working day for life insurance and other life underwriting claims.
The insurer published claim statistics for 2024 on Friday, showing that it has paid out more than R14.7 billion in claims, with a 95% payout ratio on underwritten claims.
Breakdown of claims paid out is underwritten policies, corporate claims and non-underwritten policies.
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Old Mutual underwritten policies
According to the insurer’s stats, underwritten policies include life, disability and illness claims. For these, Old Mutual paid out more than R7.3 billion in 2024.
Most of the money, R6.2 billion, went to death claims. Old Mutual reported a 98% claim payout for 2024. Illness claims cost the insurer R888 million, while disability claims cost R297 million.
“Causes of underwritten claims include: cancer, trauma, cardiovascular disorders, central nervous system disorders, respiratory system disorders and musculoskeletal disorders,” said Old Mutual.
Since 2002, Old Mutual has paid out more R91 billion in underwritten claims. Reasons why some claims were not paid out are due to non-disclosure, fraud, suicide exclusion, among others.
Old Mutual death claims
The insurer reports that death claims increased in 2021, reaching R9.73 billion, an 88% rise from R5.16 billion in 2020, primarily due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, claims went back to normal levels after that, as Old Mutual paid R5.8 billion in 2022 and R5.6 billion in 2023.
“Life insurance includes a terminal illness benefit that pays the full cover amount if the insured person is diagnosed with a terminal illness and has less than 12 months to live.”
44% of death claims are due to car accidents, followed by crime and violence, accounting for 28% of death claims. 17% of death claims are due to shooting accidents, 6% due to accidents (unspecified location), 3% burns and 2% drowning.
Disability claims
“According to the World Stroke Organization, stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Globally, one in four adults over the age of 25 will have a stroke in their lifetime,” said the insurer.
According to the claim stats, 23% of the disability lump sum claims were due to musculoskeletal disorders, 21% central nervous system disorders, 15% cancer, 10% psychiatric disorders, 7% cardiovascular disorders, 5% connective tissue disorders, 5% sensory and communication, and 14% other.
The stats show that cancer (50%) is the leading cause of illness claims, followed by cardiovascular disorders (25%), central nervous system disorders (13%), respiratory system disorders (3%), connective tissue disorders (2%), sensory and communication (2%), Musculoskeletal disorders (1%) and other (4%).
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