Military personnel face higher charges because of the higher risk they face of injury or death.
Many military personnel are finding it difficult to secure competitively-priced insurance cover, new analysis from Buckles Investment Services shows.
According to the firm, UK soldiers generally find that they pay "much higher" premiums. Richard Eling, investment director at Buckles, also said today that it is essential that the group reads the "small print" on their policies, due to the very wide variety of dangers faced in various military jobs.
All insurance is priced on the provider's risk of having to pay out for a claim. Therefore, low-risk customers can expect to pay less for their cover, and vice versa: for example, young male drivers can expect to pay car insurance premiums twice or three times larger than those paid by forty and fifty-somethings. For soldiers, the primary risk which pushes up insurance costs is that of battlefield injury or death.
Mr Eling commented: "If you read the small print of your life insurance policy, war is up there with acts of God, so a standard policy won't cover those things. Generally, people who are going to be in dangerous situations have to go to specialist providers and there are specialist providers out there."
He added: "Seek out a specialist provider but read the small print and make sure it applies to the specific job you are doing."
