OnePath increases premiums
Insurer OnePath says tax changes, medical inflation and growing numbers of claims have prompted it to increase its premiums this year.
Tuesday, January 21st 2014, 6:00AM
by Susan Edmunds
From January 1, OnePath life cover policies have increased in price by between 2% and 5%, depending on a customer’s age.
Those aged between 35 and 62 had the smallest increase and those aged under 32 and over 65 had the highest.
Spokesman Andrew Park said OnePath had made it clear after insurance tax changes in 2010 that it would increase its premiums by 3% per annum through until 2015. Premiums were not increased last year.
“We wanted to keep prices competitive last year to allow advisers to keep selling in a difficult period but we had to put it on this year as anticipated.”
The increases are in addition to the normal age-related increases.
Medical cover prices have also increased, by an average 7.7% for males and 8.3% for females.
OnePath has also introduced a new pricing band for young people aged 14 to 21 because of increasing claims costs, for things such as wisdom teeth extraction. The average increase for this age band is 4% higher than for children aged under 13.
Park said, despite the increases, the premiums were still competitive.
Advisers still can only sell medical cover if they add another policy to the sale. Park said that had been in place for some time. “That policy is still in effect for now.”
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