The things people worry about…and the things they ought to!
Insurance, More Money Stuff Sep 11, 2009
Does swine flu make you fearful? Or are you more likely to bite your nails at the thought of crossing the road?
When you look at just the odds, it’s the latter that’s far more dangerous!
Yet according to a Florida life insurance broker, it’s the dread of dying from swine flu that has provoked a surge in life insurance quotes this year.
This year’s H1N1 flu outbreak has attracted huge publicity, although according to some experts it has yet to be proven more fatal than seasonal influenza. Researchers at Imperial College London said that although accurate predictions about the death rate are not yet possible, the best estimate so far is that about 0.5% of those who get swine flu badly enough to seek medical help may die from it.
That’s roughly a 1 in 200 chance if you get the disease. And with only 13,192 cases reported in the UK at the time of writing, that would suggest your overall chance of having
caught and died from the disease so far in 2009 stands at around 1 in 921,000.
Yet it’s never just statistics that drive people to seek out a life insurance quote. It’s worry: a combination of uncertainty (nobody’s yet sure about the likely spread and severity of swine flu, particularly with winter on the way) and an understandable concern for loved ones. As Morgan Moran, the abovementioned Florida life insurance broker, said: ‘People are worried about this flu, and what might happen to their families if something should suddenly happen to them’.
What are the differences between the threats that get people hunting for life cover and the ones that are statistically more likely to harm us?
Six worries likely to prompt a life insurance quote
- Swine Flu: We don’t yet know enough about this year’s outbreak. However, health officials said that a 1976 outbreak of swine flu in people might lead to a pandemic. Widespread vaccination was carried out in the U.S. before experts determined that the virus was not dangerous enough. And do you remember the (unrealised) 2004 anxieties about bird flu? We might be more advised to worry about regular flu, which kills ‘a few hundred thousand people a year’ according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
- Terrorism: attacks against the public are a dreadful concern, although odds-wise you can be reassured that you’re very unlikely to die this way. Even if terrorists were able to pull off one attack per year on the scale of the 9/11 atrocity, that would put your one-year risk under one in 100,000.
- DVT (deep vein thrombosis) on air journeys. Since 2004 there have been 1,500 deaths worldwide from this affliction, where potentially fatal blood clots are caused by restricted lower-limb circulation. But when you compare that to the approximately two billion air passengers carried annually, the statistical threat is tiny. What’s more, if you don’t sit still for the whole flight, or wear compression stockings, your risks are reduced even further.
- Spider bites, poisonous snakes and other animal nasties. Recent headlines about two snake-related deaths in the UK have put this worry back on the agenda. If you’re going to the Colombian rainforest, be concerned. However, here in Britain less than 0.001% of hospital bed days were for toxic effect of contact with venomous animals in England 2002-03 (according to the Department of Health).
- Lightning: in the USA, there are 180 lightning strike fatalities a year, and men have more reason to be worried: 84% of these fatalities were male. If you live in Florida, central Africa or parts of India, fair enough, call your life insurance provider (and avoid spending July afternoons outdoors near a tall tree!) But if you live in the UK, take heart: north-western Europe is one of the least lightning-prone parts of the world.
- Meteor strike: statistically, we’re due for one ‘any time soon’. But when geologists and astronomers refer to ‘any time soon’, they’re referring to ‘roughly every 100,000 years’. Not exactly something to set your alarm for!
Six things we should be a bit more concerned about:
- Heart disease. Cardiovascular diseases aren’t only the UK’s number one cause
of demise, they’re also more likely to strike us during working age than other
statistical big threats. - Road rage: 13% of road fatalities are estimated to be caused by ‘road rage’
incidents that lead to adrenaline rises and reckless driving. Upsetting people
on the roads might just be a fact of life, and their overreactions are more
dangerous than regular traffic (which is already not to be taken lightly…) - Alcohol-related accidents. Alcohol isn’t listed as a top 10 cause of death
itself, but it’s the biggest contributing factor to accidental death in the UK. - Smoking: like alcohol, not listed as a primary cause of death but a huge
risk factor in other top causes such as heart disease, cancer and stroke. - Eating disorders: this is a wide spectrum, but when it comes to anorexia
nervosa, according to the International Journal of Eating Disorders between
6% and 20% of cases will end up fatal. Between five and eight thousand will be
disgnosed with this disorder each year. - Critical illness: all of the above cause death, but far more commonly they
cause their survivors a loss of livelihood. An optional extra on most life
insurance policies is critical illness cover, and it’s one we’d highly
recommend as it pays out if you have to stop working.
- Get a life insurance quote with critical illness here
- Get a quote on private medical cover
And six odd worries you might not have considered:
- Sleepwalking: US figures show 30,000 sleepwalking-related deaths in last 50
years – many of them bizarre (example: the lady vacuum-cleaning her front lawn
during a lightning storm…) - Exercise equipment: every year in the USA, 3,000 keep-fit products are
recalled for safety reasons. Don’t die for the sake of slimmer hips or a
six-pack! - Golf: about those lightning strikes? (above)… They’re four times more
likely to affect golfers. Well, if you will walk around swinging a bit of metal
above your head… - People you know: four out of six murder victims are killed by people they
know! - Giant Sandcastles: every year, six people are buried alive in holes they dug
on the beach. My guess is that this one’s easily avoidable. - And – especially if you’re a Monty Python fan – always, always beware ‘the salmon mousse…’
Whichever list captures your imagination, if you need to know more about
protecting your loved ones in case of critical illness or fatality, read our
life insurance guide.
And if at the end of all this you’re still feeling chipper (anything we missed out?)… let us know in the comments below!
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