AIG Life said the industry should share more real customer stories behind its statistics to hammer home the importance of cover.
It made the appeal as it published its annual life and critical illness claims for 2017 which showed AIG paid 99 per cent of life claims, which is up from 96 per cent in 2016.
AIG also paid 93 per cent of critical illness claims, which is up from 92.3 per cent 2016.
Adam Winslow, chief executive of AIG Life, said: "Publishing our life and critical illness claims stats is essential to help the industry and advisers build trust with customers.
"Whilst statistics inform people, stories can inspire them. Behind every claim paid is a real individual, with a family, a career, ambitions and dreams, something we at AIG Life pride ourselves in remembering with every claim interaction.
"Hearing the rational stats and the personal stories of how protection insurance has helped people cope at a tough time will give people more confidence to make protection an important part of their financial planning."
Along with the figures, AIG shared the story of Alex, a 2017 critical illness claimant, who was diagnosed with cancer.
He had been paying around £50 a month for the cover. The highest pay out was for life cover which stood at over £5m. This was followed by critical illness at £765,000 and terminal illness at £459,000.
The average age at claim was 64 for life, 47 for critical illness and 59 for terminal illness.
Cancer was the biggest cause of claim. It made up 45 per cent of all life claims, 60 per cent of all critical illness claims and 96 per cent of all terminal illness claims.
It also made up 27 per cent of all child critical illness claims.
Martin Reynolds, chief executive of Simply Biz Mortgages, said: "The claim is the most important stage in the life of a protection product. It’s an emotional time, a real human moment when you don’t want to be worrying about whether the life company is going to do the right thing. You need them to go that extra mile. AIG Life get this."
Alan Chan, director and chartered financial planner at London-based IFS Wealth & Pensions, said: "I think it’s very important that all insurance providers share claims data. The data from AIG clearly illustrates that their covers work and really do protect real people.
"All providers should be proud of the quality of their cover and share the good news stories and how many claims they pay out yearly. This would help to debunk the myth that insurance is a waste of money and that ‘they never pay out’. Hopefully this will encourage more people to protect themselves and their family."
