DEATH FROM CANCER was the most common reason for life cover claims being paid out by Irish Life last year, accounting for almost 50 per cent of all payouts.
Heart-related conditions accounted for a further 22 per cent of death claims.
And alcohol was a factor in one in five accidental or sudden death claims paid out, according to figures released by the company yesterday.
Martin Duffy, head of underwriting and claims, said the alcohol figure was “a worrying statistic and one that should be borne in mind by policymakers”.
Meanwhile, cancer was also the most common reason for payouts on specified illness claims. It accounted for 78 per cent of the total specified illness claims paid to women.
The single biggest specified illness payment by the company went to a 41-year-old woman who received over €750,000 after a breast cancer diagnosis while another women, also in her early 40s, received €500,000 after a thyroid cancer diagnosis.
The single largest death benefit paid by Irish Life in 2008 was €1.2 million in respect of a 45-year-old female who died of ovarian cancer. The second largest was €900,000 in respect of a 48-year-old male who died of a heart attack.
Meanwhile as was the case with specified illness payments, some significant death benefits were paid in respect of people whose life cover had only been in force for short periods.
For example, two of the larger claims were paid on policies that the customers had started within the previous year – over €635,000 in respect of a 35-year-old male who died of a heart attack and over €215,000 in respect of a person in their early 30s who died of sudden adult death syndrome.
Overall, the company paid out €29.7 million in specified illness claims last year in respect of 504 individual cases. It also paid out over €86 million in respect of 1,335 death claims.