Animal Friends Insurance, a not-for-profit UK insurance organization, has launched a new scheme that offers vegetarians lower premiums on life insurance, The Guardian has reported.
The new life insurance policy offers a 6% discount to non-meat eaters on the basis of medical research that claims vegetarians are less likely to suffer from chronic illnesses, the publication revealed.
As cited in The Guardian, Animal Friends Insurance’s (AFI’s) managing director, Elaine Fairfax, said: The risk of vegetarians suffering from some cancers is reduced by up to 40% and from heart disease by up to 30%, but despite this they have to pay the same life insurance premiums as meat eaters.
We believe this is unfair and the life insurance industry needs to acknowledge the fact that being a vegetarian can have a very positive impact on life expectancy and reduce premiums accordingly.
Although The Guardian reported this product to be the first of its kind in the UK insurance industry, Post Online claimed that a similar product was launched six years ago, but was then withdrawn from the market.
Post Online revealed that the new policy will once again be underwritten by UK general insurer LV=.