An ambulance transfers a woman with covid in the Valencian Community.
Monica Torres, Monica Torres
The increase in deaths from the pandemic is reflected in the death coverage insurance registry: 134,697 people learned last year that their relative had life or accident insurance.
This record number —which does not represent the number of deaths, since several inquiries can be made about a person— represents an increase of 53.67% over the activity in 2019. On the contrary, 166,517 inquiries gave negative results, since the deceased was not insured.
Justice informs the relatives if the deceased has insurance and with what company for the interested party to claim it.
2020 will be a record year for many statistics due to covid-19.
Also for inquiries received by the registry of death coverage insurance contracts, dependent on the Ministry of Justice.
According to the documentation that EL PAÍS has had access to, last year this ministry received 305,244 inquiries to find out if as many people were beneficiaries of some life or accident insurance for a deceased person.
This figure represents 81,000 more consultations than in 2019, an increase of 31.2%, undoubtedly influenced by the deaths caused by the pandemic.
21 million life policies
It should not be forgotten that in Spain there are 20.92 million life insurance policies in force until September 2020, according to data from the insurance employer, Unespa.
It does not mean that there are almost 21 million policyholders because some holders have multiple policies.
Of all the petitions received last year in Justice, in 134,697 cases the deceased was insured and in more than 166,517 not.
Most of the inquiries were made online: the Ministry's electronic headquarters processed a total of 182,634, while notaries (who do this almost automatically when the registration of last wills is requested) requested 116,088 and by post another 6,522 arrived.
The insurance registry also responds to people who, in life, want to know what life or accident policies they have taken out.
These are the so-called "information notes", which totaled 4,030 in 2020.
According to the documentation of the ministry, La Rioja was the one that made the most requests, 27,300, followed by Barcelona, with 13,891, Bizkaia, with 13,837 and Valencia with 13,118 in total.
Madrid does not appear in the list because it is the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice and it is not included as an individual province.
The life insurances that are not included in the registry are those of the company.
The reason is that it is understood that if a worker dies, the company will contact their relatives to inform them of the amount to which they are entitled.
In addition, they point out in the sector, "it is very difficult to maintain the ups and downs of large companies that frequently vary their templates."
The policyholders are known, not the beneficiaries
Neither does it include social security or professional mutual benefit societies or insurance in which the policyholder (contractor) and beneficiary (the one who collects in the event of death) are the same person.
They do not include pension plans or other savings products.
The registry is fed by all the insurers that are obliged to report weekly to the registry of their policyholders.
The beneficiaries are not collected because that would go against the data protection law, but the insured.
According to the Ministry of Justice, "access to the registry (to request certificates) can only be made once the insured has died, after proof of such circumstance, and provided that 15 days have elapsed from the date of death."
To make this request, you must attach the death certificate, fill out the application and pay a fee of 3.78 euros.
Once everything is in order, the registry issues a certification stating, if any, the insurances that the insured had contracted and which company he was a client of.
With this certificate, the interested party will be able to go to the insurance companies to find out if they are a beneficiary of them.
It may happen that the person making the inquiry is not the beneficiary of the insurance.
In this case, the insurer is not obliged to reveal the identity of the person entitled to collect it.
The certificate can be requested by mail, online or by going in person to the central headquarters of the registry, as well as to the territorial offices of Justice.
This data will remain available for five years after the death of the insured.
The insurances that are included in the registry are life insurance, savings insurance or retirement plans (except pure savings insurance in which there is no benefit if the insured dies, very few in practice) and insurance of accidents in case of death.
It also includes insurance linked to credit cards or insurance that has been obtained through a commercial promotion.
This was one of the controversial issues, since there was a time when cards included insurance, although, at times, the customer was not aware of having them.
The initiative that started in 2002, but was approved in 2007
On October 22, 2002, Senator Ramón Espasa (PSC-PSOE) presented a motion for the PP government to create the insured registry.
All the parties supported him, although the PP asked for six months to study the matter.
In 2004, the PSOE arrived in La Moncloa, and the regulation still did not exist.
It was not a reality until March 2007, something that for many reflects the scant interest of politicians and insurers to promote it.
Since 2005, the Association of Users of Banking Services (Ausbanc) was in charge of insistently reminding the Zapatero Government of its unjustified delay in creating the registry, considered one of the most effective in Europe.
Espasa, in the same line that Ausbanc defended, recalled that the beneficiaries of life insurance "on many occasions are not aware of the existence of these policies, being the case, too often, that a death occurs and there is life insurance that covers this risk, but because they are unaware of the existence of the policy, the beneficiaries remain uncollected ”.
“In addition, after the five years the contract prescribes.
The insurer does not say anything and does not pay the compensation that it was obliged to pay and the good purpose of that saving, protecting its beneficiaries from a risk of death of the policyholder, is no longer being fulfilled ”, he added.