Summary
An innovative new product has been developed by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The new policy offers lower premiums to vegetarians, based on evidence that they are at a lower risk than their carnivorous counterparts of developing certain health conditions. It remains to be seen whether other insurance organisations will follow the example set by AFI .

A none profit insurance firm has launched an insurance policy which offers vegetarians and egg eaters a reduced cost life cover .

The offer, thought to be the first of its type, is being pioneered by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The organisation is offering non-meat eaters a six per cent cheaper premiumon cheap life cover premiums
The firm claimed that vegetarians ought to pay a lower amount for the insurance, which pays out if the customer dies, because they were more unlikely to suffer from a range of very serious illnesses, including some cancers.

Sheils Hatline, a director at AFI, claims that the risk of vegetarians being diagnosed with certain cancers is lowered by up to 42% and the risk of them suffering from heart disease is reduced by up to 30%, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay the same premiums as plan holders who eat meat.
She says that AFI think that this is not fair and says the insurance companies should acknowledge the idea that being a vegetarian can impose have a big influence on life expectancy and lower its monthly charges accordingly.

A full-price policy is also on the market for non-vegetarians. Both policies are underwritten by LV=, which used to be known as Liverpool Victoria.

In common with standard life policies, a range of aspect contribute to the cost of the policies including whether the applicant smokes, their weight, age and sex.

Currently at the moment, AFI is carrying the six per cent cheaper premium itself from the fee it gets from LV=. In the future, however, the firm’s objective was to offer lower costs on specialist cover. In ,offering the discount the firm is hoping to sign up enough veggies to make it cost effective for LV= to underwrite another plan that takes the vegetarian’s diet into account.

Indeed there are significant savings to be made, a forty two year oldnon-smoker purchasing £300,000 worth of life cover might potentially save £393.60 over a 25-year term.

Where life insurance deals is concerned, AFI thinks that insurers should start to treat those that like meat and people that don’t eat meat in ways that are similar to the way they assess non-smokers and smokers. We hope that that other companies in the insurance industry will follow the initiative.

Some senior executivesin the insurance industry are doubtful whether there is proof that vegetarians live longer, and how any life insuranec company would know that applicants who had stated that they are vegetarian did not eat the odd spare rib.

When it comes to smoking, the insurance company can refer to your Doctor’s records - if you do smoke it’s possible that your Doctor is likely to be aware. However, this is not the case when it comes to eating meat, an insurance executive said.

But many veggetarians say that they are not concerned about people falling off the vegetarian ways and suggested that once a vegetarian has become a veggie, they do not go back to meat-eating, that’s unlike applicants who smoke who tend to drift in and out of their habit.