Life insurance for armed forces is ‘inadequate’
Life insurance for those serving in the Armed Forces "falls short of many service personnel’s needs" due to a lack of understanding of military life, according to independent financial advisors.
The Ministry of Defence offers the specialist insurance through life insurance company Sterling Life but this limited cover is often inadequate.
Problems arise if there is even a possibility people may be deployed to an area of hostility. Cover is often refused in such a case, leaving serving soldiers, sailors and RAF personnel without life insurance cover regardless of the actual risk.
Members of the Armed Forces who carry out hazardous jobs will often have to reclaim the extra premium loading added by insurance companies but this is often limited to a specific amount.
There were 183,530 members of the UK Armed Forces as of July 2007 and according to the Defence Analytical Services Agency there were 190 deaths in 2006, with half of these due to accidents, 40 due to disease and 49 due to violence.
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