Home / Types of Life Insurance Policies
There are many different ways of describing the different types of companies which provide life insurance and life assurance policies. One of the main distinctions, which interests customers and prospective customers, is who owns the company.
Life Insurers can either be owned by those who hold shares in them (privately or publicly) or by those who hold policies with them (their customers), these are called Mutual Companies.
Policy holders with mutual life insurers often have what are called membership rights and benefits which can be varied but usually include voting rights when appointing Directors to run the company. It is important to point out however that is not always the case that having any policy with a mutual life insurer confers on the policy holder membership rights, this is because some mutual life insurers only offer such membership to those with certain types of insurance or assurance policies, or policies started before a certain date.
Whereas shareholders in a company can buy and sell their shares, members of a mutual life insurer can not unless of course the mutual votes to de-mutualise and in so doing issues shares to the members which can then be traded as other shares.
De-mutualisation has been a popular choice for a number of mutual life insurers over the years, leading to millions of life insurance and life assurance policy holders receiving shares which they can either keep, in the hope that the value of the shares grow and in the meantime earn dividends on them, or they can sell them. These shares are often described as ‘windfall’ shares because they have not been bought by the insurance or assurance policy holders who receive them.
The pressures on life insurance companies owned by shareholders (who demand increasing profits and therefore increased share values and dividends) are often very different to mutual life insurers which are owned by their customers; however the types of life insurance and life assurance policies offered by both types of insurers are broadly the same.
The possible windfall benefits offered by de-mutualisation have caused some to buy a life insurance or life assurance policy from mutual life insurers when their prices are at least as good as the alternative life insurers available, because of the chance of them receiving windfall shares.
At Direct Life we offer the life insurance products from mutual companies and those with shareholders.
14 February 2008 16:48:42
Clinical trials of a drug used to treat arthritis and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have shown promising results in treating the most common type of multiple sclerosis (MS).
The findings, which researchers say "shift the perspective on the cause of MS and open up a new frontier for investigation", could affect life insurance policies for suffers.
The neurological condition is the result of damage to a protective sheath surrounding the nerve fibres of the central nervous system which interferes with messages between the brain and other parts of the body.
Conventional treatments for MS rely on targeting the T-cells of the immune system.
In this study, however, researchers from the University of California used a drug, rituximab, which targeted the immune system's B-cells leading to a dramatic reduction in the number of inflammatory nerve fibre lesions in patients' brains.
Lead researcher Dr Stephen Hauser said: "The magnitude and rapidity of the drug's effect suggest that therapies targeting B-cells may provide an important treatment strategy if proven effective and safe in larger and longer-term clinical trials."
The study is published in the February 14th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
According to the Multiple Sclerosis Society around 85,000 people in the UK suffer from the illness.
Direct Life and Pensions Services Ltd are one of the UK's leading providers of life insurance, term life assurance, mortgage protection, critical illness and life insurance advice online
13 August 2007 17:12:27
Recent changes in the critical illness insurance industry should prevent the unfortunate situation of consumers such as Jilly Thompson, it is hoped.
The Financial Mail recently reported that Ms Thompson from Cheshire was forced to undergo a mastectomy in 2004, after cancerous cells were discovered in her right breast.
However, the 60-year-old, who first acquired critical illness cover in 1997, had her claim rejected, when her insurer told her that her condition - 'ductal carcinoma in situ' - was not life-threatening.
Though the condition is indeed treatable if detected early enough, the case highlights the confusion felt by some consumers over the extent of their critical illness protection.
Ms Thompson told the paper: "If I had not had my breast removed my cancer would have spread and then I would have qualified for my claim. But I may well have risked my life."
The Association of British Insurers recently introduced new critical illness definitions, so as to provide greater clarity to consumers and to standardize protection levels across the industry.
13 February 2008 16:56:25
The dramatic affects of climate change on health - which could impact upon life insurance policies - have been highlighted in a report by the Health Protection Agency (HPA).
Experts from the Department of Health and HPA found that while Britain is adapting well to steadily rising temperatures, heat waves - which may become more prevalent - pose a serious health risk.
If measures are not taken to avoid significant climate change, the experts predict that by 2012 there is a 2.5 per cent chance of a heat wave in the south-east of England that could cause 3,000 immediate heat-related deaths.
The experts predict that Malaria could return to the south of England during the next half century, although the number of infected people will be low.
But European strains of mosquitoes could emerge in warmer parts of the continent that may find their way to the UK.
Professor Robert Maynard, chairman of the panel of experts who conducted the research, said: "Climate change is likely to be one of the major challenges that humanity faces this century."
Increased exposure to sunlight will result in more skin cancers and there will be a 14.5 per cent rise in the total number of people getting sick from food poisoning each year, the researchers claim.
The BBC reports that about 60,000 new cases of all types of skin cancer are diagnosed in the UK each year and more than 1,500 people die from malignant melanoma alone.
Direct Life and Pensions Services Ltd are one of the UK's leading providers of life insurance, term life assurance, mortgage protection, critical illness and life insurance advice online
