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Most life insurance and life assurance policies today are sold by intermediaries (often called brokers) which can be businesses set up to specialise in insurance, banks or building societies or traditional retailers who are simply trying to find new ways of making money from their customers.
Some life insurers do sell their policies direct to the public although they often do this on a limited basis and, contrary to the way other retail markets work, these policies can be more expensive when bought directly from the life insurer.
Intermediaries or brokers can nowadays offer life insurance and life assurance products from a single insurance company, a panel of insurance companies or from what is also described as ‘whole of market’, although in truth ‘whole of market’ is rarely the whole of the market and is just a way of describing a large panel of insurers which are prepared to sell their life insurance and life assurance products through the particular broker or intermediary.
For customers the benefit of using a broker who offers life insurance and life assurance policies from more than one life insurance company isn’t always obvious because not all brokers discount the basic cost of life insurance and life assurance policies. It is also true that not all brokers selling one life insurance company’s life insurance and life assurance policies offer discounts all of the time and therefore it pays to shop around.
At Direct Life we do provide discounts to customers on their life insurance policies and these are hard coded into our online and call centre quotations service.
06 August 2008 17:22:31
Those without life insurance policies will be pleased to hear about a proposed program that involves vaccinating children against flu in order to provide protection for the rest of the population.
Whilst the Daily Mail claimed that running the programme could cut flu infection rates by 70 per cent, the Daily Telegraph reported that "flu could be virtually wiped out if all under 16s were vaccinated against the disease".
A similar programe was considered and subsequently rejected in 2006 by the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation, the NHS reported.
New research published in the Lancet this week suggested that the influenza vaccine did not provide as much protection as was previously thought.
In the study a group of 3,500 individuals were tested and it was uncovered that in those over 65 there was no link between the flu vaccination and the risk of those people contracting pneumonia.
UK life insurance provides cover in case of injury or illness.
05 August 2008 17:34:54
Those with and without life insurance policies may be interested to know that a trial of a vaccine for HIV patients which allows them to take breaks from their regular medication is planned, the BBC reported.
The trial, which was announced at the Aids 2008 conference in Mexico City, will involve 345 patients in both the US and Europe and the results are due by the end of 2009.
It is hoped that the vaccine could help alleviate side effects associated with the drugs currently used to treat the virus and may help delay the emergence of strains of HIV that are resistant to the drugs.
Dr Barry Peters, of Kings College London, who is leading the research in the UK, said: "A successful immunotherapeutic HIV vaccine would give patients and doctors enormous advantages over current treatments, both in developed and developing countries."
Whilst Dr Peters has qualified that the vaccine being trialled is not the "complete answer", it could go some way to helping produce a "full" vaccine.
UK life insurance provides policy holders with cover in case of illness or injury.
05 August 2008 17:32:20
Large doses of Vitamin C intravenously administered to mice have succeeded in reducing the size of their tumours and it is hoped that it could prove effective in humans in the future.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has shown that the way Vitamin C is administered makes a "huge difference" to the outcome of the trial.
According to the Associated Press, injecting the mice with Vitamin C led to a chemical reaction which produced "tumour-toxic hydrogen peroxide".
Reaction in the mice was positive as the chemical that was produced damaged the membranes, metabolism and DNA of the cancer cells, but did not appear to harm healthy tissue.
Whilst the results have been positive, those without life insurance policies may be interested to know that it was noted that further trials in humans are required before the treatment can be used to help fight cancer.
In the 1970s Dr Charles Moertel conducted tests to establish the efficacy of vitamin C in treating cancer patients but his trial showed no benefit to patients. This trial however, administered the vitamin by mouth.
UK life insurance policy holders may be affected by cancer at some point in their lives.
