After the high life cover claims seen during the Covid-19 pandemic era, cancer has re-emerged as the leading reason for claims.

That’s according to longer-term insurer Liberty.

In its 2023 claim statistics released on Tuesday, it said there had been an increase in cancer and cardiovascular claims, with the former accounting for approximately 32.3% of all claims, up from 28.8% in 2022.

The Mail & Guardian reports that Liberty said there was a decrease in claims for respiratory disorders last year and this could signal a return to pre-pandemic norms.

The top five conditions relating to claims in 2023 were spread across cancer and cardiac and cardiovascular diseases and disorders, which made up 23.4% of all claims, while respiratory disorders accounted for 7.3%, strokes for 5.6% and traumatic injuries for 4.5%.

Last year, Liberty paid out R6.72bn in valid claims to individual clients, their families and beneficiaries. This was slightly less than the R6.98bn it paid out in 2022.

The 2022 figure, however, represented a 31% decrease from 2021, when the insurer paid out R10.12bn in claims.

'Death due to major non-communicable diseases has increased by 58% in the last 20 years. The reasons include an increase in urbanisation, unhealthy diets, tobacco use, rising obesity – all contribute to this surge that we are seeing and probably will see in the future,’ said Liberty’s chief medical officer Reinhardt Erasmus.

According to the WHO, noncommunicable diseases, which include heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease, are collectively responsible for 74% of all deaths worldwide.

Full Mail & Guardian report