By: Natasha Archary
Discovery Life has paid R10.5 billion in claims in 2023 with a total of R8.4 billion paid out across both Group Risk and Individual Life policies.
Releasing data from its annual claims review on Wednesday, 18 April Discovery Life Deputy CEO, Gareth Friedlander said there were significantly improved trends in early detection of severe illnesses which was influenced by an increase in health screenings.
“In the two years after the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw the impact of the sharp decline in health screenings translating into a spike in late-stage cancer diagnoses.
As a Group, we have invested heavily post-pandemic in supporting a return to health screenings, the results of which are now evident in the 2023 data with a 29% increase in earlier stage cancer claims compared to 2022. The importance of this is that earlier detection can lead to much better prognoses.
Later-stage cancers are still significantly high, at 31% of all cancer claims. But as a proportion of all cancer claims, less severe claims have increased showing that these are being picked up earlier.”
The amount paid out in claims in 2023 was significantly lower that the R11.7 billion which was paid out in 2021.
There were 8 912 unique claims which included R3 billion in death claims in 2023.
Individual life policies paid out R6.45 billion in claims, while R1.5 billion was paid out for Severe Illness Benefit.
On average, the industry pays about 22% in living benefits, while Discovery Life tends to pay a higher proportion for illness, disability, and loss of income claims. This is because clients are rewarded with richer Shared-value benefits when they add more of these ancillary benefits. This in turn also assists clients in reducing their disability and income insurance gap.
One in five life cover claimants had already claimed for a life changing illness or disability before they passed away.
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