Summary
An innovative new insurance product has been launched by Animal Friends Insurance. The new insurance plan offers cheaper premiums to vegetarians, based on evidence that they are at a lesser risk than their carnivore counterparts of developing certain diseases. It remains to be seen whether other insurers will follow the policy introduced by AFI .

A no-profit insurance business has introducd an insurance scheme which offers vegetarians and egg eaters a reduced premium cheapest life cover .

The deal, considered to be the 1st of its type, is being pioneered by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The business is offering veggies a six per cent discounton mortgage life insurance premiums
The business said that veggies ought to pay a lower amount for the cover, which pays out if the policyholder were to die, because they were less likely to suffer from a list of chronic illnesses, including cancers.

Susan Gaddet, A senior director at Animal Friends Insurance, claims that the danger of vegetarians being diagnosed with certain cancers is reduced by up to 40 per cent and the danger of them suffering from heart disease is reduced by up to 30 per cent, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay broadly identical life insurance premiums as clients who eat meat.
She says that Animal Friends Insurance believe this is not fair and says the life insurance industry should recognise the concept that being a vegetarian can make a very positive impact on life expectancy and reduce its charges accordingly.

A full-price policy is also on the market for non-vegetarians. Both policies are marketed by LV=, which prior, was known as Liverpool Victoria.

In common with normal life insurance policies, a range of things contribute to the cost of the plans including whether the applicant smokes, their age, weight and sex.

At the moment, Animal Friends Insurance is funding the 6% lower price itself from the cash it receives from LV=. In the future, however, the business’s objective was to offer lower costs on specialist insurance cover. In making the discount the firm is hoping to sign up enough veggies to make it economically worthwhile for LV= to underwrite yet another policy that takes the veggie diet into account.

Indeed there are welcome savings to be made, a thirty eight year oldnon-smoker buying £300,000 worth of life insurance cover might potentially save £393.60 over a twenty year term.

Where cheap life insurance is concerned, AFI believes that insurance companies should try to treat those that like meat and non-meat eaters in ways that are similar to the way they approach those that smoke and those that don’t. Perhaps others in the insurance industry will take the same initiative.

Some peoplein the insurance industry are doubtful whether there is proof that veggies live longer, and how any insurer would know that applicants who had stated that they are vegetarian did not sometimes enjoy the odd lamb chop.

It’s true that when it comes to smoking there are GP records – if you now don’t smoke it’s probable that your GP will be aware. However, this is not the case when it comes to eating meat, an an insurance industry spokesperson observed.

But some veggies contend that they are not concerned about people falling off the vegetarian way of eating and suggested that once a vegetarian has become a veggie, they don’t go back to meat-eating, unlike applicants who smoke who tend to drift in and out of their habit.