{"id":822,"date":"2021-10-13T13:19:05","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T13:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/?p=822"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:46:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:46:44","slug":"heart-disease-and-stroke-top-death-claims-even-through-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/2021\/10\/13\/heart-disease-and-stroke-top-death-claims-even-through-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart disease and stroke top death claims, even through pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cardiovascular-related claims make up the most death claims that life insurance companies deal with, and do so almost every year. This has been so even through the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the 2020 claim statistics from Momentum Life Insurance,<\/p>\n

When it comes to cardiovascular diseases and strokes, people often associate these diseases with men, and in fact, they are generally right. According to Momentum\u2019s stats, cardiovascular issues are a leading cause of deaths for men whereas cancer is the leading cause of death claims for women.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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George Kolbe, head of marketing for Momentum Retail Life Insurance says: \u201cThis can be supported by Momentum Life statistics indicating that cardiovascular\/heart disease was the main cause of death claims for men at 28%. Of these, 69% were caused by a heart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facing the reality of cardiovascular risk<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the World Health Organisation, 27.4% of men and 26.1% of women in South Africa suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure), although other sources estimate this number to be closer to one in every three adults and even up to 60% of the population. The reality is that everyone suffering from hypertension carries increased risk of having a heart attack or stroke.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kolbe believes the real tragedy behind heart attacks and strokes is the fact that they can be prevented to a large extent. \u201cSimple lifestyle changes including diet, exercise and knowledge of one\u2019s health status can provide the prevention many people need but are simply not implementing into their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

This view is supported by statistics from the South African Medical Research Council, which indicate that up to 80% of heart diseases and strokes could be prevented through modified behaviour such as choosing to follow a healthy lifestyle that includes a balanced diet, regular exercise, not smoking and avoiding an excessive alcohol intake.<\/p>\n

Kolbe says people tend to forget that a cardiovascular disease or stroke can fundamentally disrupt and forever change a family\u2019s entire dynamic in an instant. This once again emphasises the importance of comprehensive risk cover.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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You may need more than medical aid to cover expenses<\/strong><\/p>\n

Advances in medical care mean that people can now survive illnesses that were once normally fatal. Kolbe says: \u201cAlthough many people lead relatively normal lives after suffering a critical illness event, you may require financial assistance to cover any lifestyle changes or extra costs not covered by your medical scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says the problem starts with out-of-hospital expenses and chronic medication and typically medical schemes don’t cover cutting-edge experimental treatments. Heart disease or stroke can leave you with a huge financial burden, even if you’re on a relatively good medical scheme. \u201cThis highlights the need for critical illness cover,\u201d says Kolbe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Health is not guaranteed but comprehensive cover can be<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kolbe says: \u201cCritical illness insurance allows you to protect your lifestyle by funding the cost of changes to your lifestyle or additional expenses incurred as a result of a critical illness event. This could include anything from making renovations in your home to accommodate a wheelchair ramp, to hiring an au pair to look after the children.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs life is unpredictable and without any guarantees, it is vital for people to have comprehensive critical illness cover in place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHaving the right cover in place ensures that your financial responsibilities are taken care of in the event of you suffering a critical illness, disability or death. It replaces the income you would have earned during your working life, helping to ensure that you and your family are financially secure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cardiovascular-related claims make up the most death claims that life insurance companies deal with, and do so almost every year. This has been so even…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-innov8ions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":824,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822\/revisions\/824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}