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

A not for profit insurance firm has introducd an insurance policy which offers egg eaters and vegetarians a reduced price cheap life cover .

The deal, considered to be the first of its kind, is being marketed by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The firm is offering vegetarians a 7% lower priceon life insurance cover premiums
The business claimed that vegetarians ought to pay a lower amount for the cover, which pays out if the client dies, because they were less likely to suffer from a range of very serious illnesses, including cancers.

Sheils Hatline, a director at AFI, said that the danger of vegetarians being diagnosed with certain cancers is shrunk by up to 40% and the danger of them suffering from heart disease is reduced by up to thirty per cent, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay broadly the same insurance costs as plan holders who eat meat.
She says that AFI believe this is patently unfair and says the insurance companies should recognise the concept that being a veggie can create a positive impact on life expectancy and lower its monthly premiums accordingly.

A normal policy is also on the market for meat eaters. Both policies are marketed by LV=, which used to be known as Liverpool Victoria.

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

Currently at the moment, AFI is making the 6% cheaper premium itself from the money it gets from LV=. In the future, however, the business’s aim was to offer lower costs on specialist cover. In offering the deal the company is hoping to sign up enough veggies to make it worthwhile for LV= to underwrite another policy that takes the veggie diet into account.

Indeed there are worthwhile savings to be made, a 40-year-oldnon-smoker purchasing £300,000 worth of insurance cover might potentially save £393.60 over a twenty year period.

Where critical illness is concerned, AFI believes that insurance companies should begin to treat meat eaters and people that don’t eat meat in ways that are similar to the way they approach non-smokers and smokers. We hope that that other companies in the insurance industry will do something similar.

Some peoplein the insurance industry are dismissive that there is robust proof that veggies live longer, and how any insurance company would know that people who had stated that they are veggies did not savour the occasional rump steak.

It’s true that when it comes to smoking there are GP records - if you now don’t smoke it's probable that your Doctor is likely to be aware. However, this is not the case when it comes to eating meat, an said a spokesperson from the insurance industry.

But many veggetarians say that they are not worried about people falling off the veggie way of eating and suggested that once a vegetarian has become a vegetarian, they do not return to meat-eating, that’s unlike those that smoke who tend to drift out and back again into their old smoking ways.