Standard Life had published reports about its critical illness claims for the year 2006. Around 360 critical illness claims may have been paid amounting to a value of approximately GBP 18.7 million. A decrease in declined critical illness claims may have also been noted. This may have reached an impressive value of around 7.5 percent. Also, the average claim paid may have been nearly GBP 53,000 and the largest sum paid for a critical illness claim may have been about GBP 500,000.



Moreover, around 64 percent of critical illness claims may have been made by people in the age group of 40 to 59. On the other hand almost 33 percent of claimants may have been aged 39 years or less. Meanwhile, around 3 percent of critical illness claims may have been registered by people having the age of 60. Additionally, nearly 72 percent of critical illness policies may have been in force for four years at the time of claim. The report also demonstrated the fact that around 53 percent of claimants may have been women while 47 percent may have been men.

Furthermore, figures about the most common illnesses among people may have also been revealed. A critical illness such as cancer topped the list with around 60 percent of critical illness claims. Then followed heart attack with 11 percent of claims, multiple sclerosis with 8 percent, stroke with 4 percent, benign brain tumour with 3 percent and finally other critical illness conditions may have accounted for about 14 percent of claims. As mentioned earlier, around 7.5 percent of critical illness claims may have been declined in the year 2006. Out of this nearly 3.3 percent may have been due to not meeting policy definitions while the remaining 4.2 percent may have been due to non disclosure.

In contrast with the year 2005, Standard Life may have declined around 18 percent of critical illness claims. Around 10 percent of these claims may have been turned down as a result of not meeting policy definitions. The remainder may have been due to non disclosure. Thus, in the year 2006, the declined critical illness claims may have decreased by 11.5 percent. This can be an encouraging fact especially for people now seeking for a critical illness cover.

In addition to, Mick James, the Protection Marketing Manager of Standard Life affirmed that they had paid around 90 percent of critical illness claims. He also said that they had managed to reach this level even though critical illness policies have been stuck a tag of not paying out. The PMM also shed some light over the fact that the decrease in declined critical illness claims had been impressive in the year 2006 but pointed out that it may be too early to believe that this could be a trend.

The downfall of rejected critical illness claims may have been a result of a more appropriate application form designed by Standard Life. The application form may have improved the questions being asked to applicants. Likewise, emphasis may have also been put on the need for complete disclosure. This may have helped to produce the results seen earlier.