Five of the biggest life insurers paid out a total of R43.2-billion, but that's less than the year before as the effect of the pandemic recedes - even although it hasn't disappeared completely.

Life insurers have now all released summaries of their 2022 claims stats, with a cumulative payout of R43.2-billion across five of the biggest companies: Old Mutual (R14.7-billion), Discovery Life (R9-billion), Liberty (R6.98-billion), Sanlam (R6.38-billion) and Momentum Retail Life Insurance (R6.18-billion).

The diminishing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic can be seen across the board, with Momentum reporting that while Covid accounted for 42% of total death claims in 2021, this figure dropped to 12% last year. This tied in with Old Mutual, which was responsible for the biggest claims payouts in 2022 at R14.7-billion, but also reported a 30.7% decrease in claims paid out compared to 2021.

"The decline in overall payouts of around R6.5-billion was expected, as 2021 was an exceptional year for claims due to the surge caused by Covid-19, and we are now starting to see a return to normal," says John Kotze, head of retail protection product marketing at Old Mutual. Old Mutual reported an average payout of R29.2-million for every working day in 2022, including death, disability, illness and retrenchment claims.

Discovery Life's deputy chief executive, Gareth Friedlander, says the reduction in Covid-19-related death claims was offset by increasing morbidity trends, reflecting the changing nature of...