A broken bone or ligament tear can have severe implications on our ability to carry out day to day tasks. It is also something that is not unfamiliar as it is not uncommon to pass someone on the street in a cast (when we could pass people on the street) or see someone stretchered off a sporting pitch with a brace on TV. With many sporting injuries (and particularly football) being high profile it is perhaps understandable that many advisers would focus more on younger, more active clients when discussing fracture cover. Zurich’s record number of fracture claims in 2020 however, highlights that perhaps we should be widening these discussions to those that are not as active. In this article we explore in more detail what fracture cover claims Zurich paid and events that led to those claims.

With much of 2020 spent in lockdown and limited non-elite sport being played, it might surprise some to learn that throughout the year Zurich paid 263 fracture cover claims totalling £1,004,000. This equates to an average payment of £3,817.50.

Whilst Zurich’s fracture cover is currently the most expensive in the market at £6.90 per month standard rate cases only, it is also the broadest in terms of the amount that will be paid and coverage. This is borne out in their statistics as a total of 40 claims (15%) were paid for dislocations, tendon ruptures or ligament tears which no other insurer covers.

Throughout the year claims were paid for fractures of every bone covered within the plan with the exception of the Pelvis. Claims were also paid on both Achilles tendon ruptures and knee ligament tears. When looking at dislocations however, there were far fewer instances with claims only being paid on shoulder dislocations and none for the other eight types of dislocation covered by the plan.