Our analysis of 2017 Day One Income Protection claims has shown that the rate of claims amongst the doctor/consultant group has risen sharply.
Following a detailed analysis of claims data for 2017, it has emerged that one in six GPs/Consultants claimed for illness benefit compared to 1 in 8 the previous year. This significant increase has been noted in the group of GPs/Consultants holding income protection policies with no deferred period, from provider DG Mutual.
Not only is the year on year increase notable, against the overall claims rate across all professions (1 in 8), GPs / Consultants are claiming at a much higher rate. Five of these cases are ongoing with four ranging in duration from 2 to five years. The underwriter has paid out almost €400,000 to these claimants.
Across all professions, about one third of Day 1 claims relate to short term infections, gastro etc, however this category represents only 18% of claims for GPs & Consultants. Some of the more prominent categories for doctors are highlighted as below.
Stress, depression & anxiety constituted 14% of the profession’s claims overall claims with one ongoing claim that has lasted over two years.
The rate for cancer amongst the profession also represents 14% of the total. Three of these cases are ongoing and two have lasted for over 2 years. Removing the long term cases, the average duration of a claim was 33 days.
For women, there has been a rise in pregnancy related conditions ranging from a few days duration to over three months. The overall gender split of doctor claimants is 50/50 & the average age of a claimant is 42.
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