TAL Life Insurance

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TAL Accelerated Protection critical illness insurance pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a specified medical condition like cancer, heart attack or stroke. The benefit will be paid even if you’re still able to work, and there are two types of plans available: Standard and Premier.

Some of the key benefits of the Premier plan include:

• Advancement benefit: This benefit provides cover for immediate expenses if a certain event happens, for example if you lose hearing in one ear or are diagnosed with partial Alzheimer’s disease.
• Female critical illness benefit: This benefit will be paid for conditions like pregnancy complications and congenital abnormalities.
• Needlestick benefit: This benefit is available if you work in certain occupations and suffer occupationally-acquired hepatitis B or C.

Benefits featured in both the Standard and Premier critical illness insurance plans include:

• Critical illness benefit: This benefit is a lump sum payment of up to $2 million for a range of conditions, such as heart attack, stroke, dementia, blindness, cancer and kidney failure.
• Paralysis support benefit: The lump sum payment is doubled to a maximum of $2,000,000 if the policyholder becomes paralysed.
• Death buy-back benefit: You can repurchase your life insurance after the payment of 100% of the critical illness benefit, paralysis support benefit or TPD benefit (if applicable). This benefit only applies if critical illness insurance or TPD insurance (if applicable) is attached or linked to life insurance.

Optional benefits on critical illness insurance plans include:

• Critical illness reinstatement benefit: This lets you repurchase your critical illness insurance after you’ve been paid a critical illness benefit, advancement benefit, needlestick benefit or female critical illness benefit.
• Double critical illness option: When critical illness insurance is attached to life insurance, this benefit means that payment of the critical illness benefit will not reduce your life insurance and future premiums will be waived.
• Child’s critical illness option: Receive a lump sum payment if an insured child suffers a critical illness.
• Premium relief option: This option lets you waive your premiums if sickness or injury mean you are unable to work for at least three months.
• Business insurance option: This option lets you increase your critical illness insurance without medical underwriting after a valid business event, such as an increase in your share of business ownership or an increase in the level of a business loan for which you are a guarantor.

How is Critical Illness Cover Different to Health Insurance?

TAL Accelerated Protection TPD insurance pays a lump sum benefit if you are totally and permanently disabled. Benefits of this type of insurance include:

• TPD benefit: A lump sum payment of up to $5 million if you become totally and permanently disabled.
• Accommodation benefit: TAL will reimburse the cost of accommodation for your immediate family member of up to $250 per day if the policyholder is confined to bed more than 100km away from home.

TAL’s TPD insurance policies also feature the following optional benefits:

• Death buy-back option: You can repurchase your life insurance after the payment of 100% of TPD insurance. Only available when TPD insurance is linked to life insurance.
• Double TPD option: Available when TPD insurance is attached to life insurance, this benefit means that payment of the TPD benefit will not reduce your life insurance and future premiums will be waived.
• Premium relief option: This option lets you waive your premiums if sickness or injury mean you are unable to work for at least three months.
• Business insurance option: This option lets you increase your critical illness insurance without medical underwriting after a valid business event, such as an increase in your share of business ownership or an increase in the level of a business loan for which you are a guarantor.

Income protection cover is designed to provide a replacement income when sickness or injury prevents you from working. It ensures you still have money coming in and you can keep on providing for your family when times are tough.

TAL offers three types of income protection policies: Standard, Premier and Optimal. In addition to the benefits offered under the Standard policy (listed further below), the Premier option includes features such as a childcare benefit, a child’s critical illness benefit and a rehabilitation benefit. Benefits included in Standard and Premier policies include:

• Total disability benefit: A monthly payment that covers up to 75% of your regular ongoing income if you are totally disabled.
• Partial disability benefit: A monthly payment when you are only able to work in a reduced capacity due to sickness or injury.
• Death benefit: A lump sum payment of six times the benefit amount (up to $50,000) if the policyholder dies.
• Concurrent disability benefit: If disability results from separate injuries or illnesses, your benefit payment will be calculated according to the injury or illness that offers the highest payment.
• Recurrent disability benefit: If a disability occurs from the same or a related cause within 12 months of a claim ending, it is treated as a continuation of the original claim so no waiting period applies.
• Waiver of premium benefit: Your premiums are waived while you receive a payment for total or partial disability.
• Other benefits: These include an elective surgery benefit, an extended care benefit and a blood-borne diseases benefit.

Optional benefits available on Standard and Premier policies include:

• Increasing claim option: This ensures your benefit payments keep pace with inflation.
• Accident benefit option: A proportion of your overall benefit amount is paid for each day you are injured if you are totally disabled for at least three consecutive days during the waiting period.
• Critical illness option: A lump sum payment of six times the benefit amount may be provided in addition to any total or partial disability payments for a range of conditions including cancer, heart attack and stroke. This will help cover the cost of medical treatment and expenses.
• Other options: These include a needlestick benefit, a retirement protection option and an option to protect against severe disability.

While the Standard and Premier policies include a monthly benefit payment that will cover up to 75% of your normal ongoing income, the Optimal plan can pay an increased benefit for the first six months of claim – this benefit is equal to 95% of your normal income.

Other features of the Optimal policy include a partial disability benefit, a waiver of premium benefit, a death benefit, a recurring claim benefit, an inflation protection benefit and a blood-borne diseases benefit.

Accelerated Protection business expenses insurance offers a monthly payment to reimburse the regular fixed operating expenses of your business if sickness or injury mean you are unable to work. These expenses include things like accounting fees, advertising, electricity, interest payments and leasing costs.

Standard features of this type of policy include:

• Total disability benefit: A monthly payment to reimburse your fixed business operating expenses if you’re totally disabled.
• Partial disability benefit: Same as above but for partial disability.
• Death benefit: A lump sum payment of three times the monthly benefit to a maximum of $50,000 if the policyholder dies.
• Payment extension benefit: The payment period is extended if the policyholder is still totally or partially disabled after one year and a sum of 12 times the benefit amount has not been paid.
• Lease extension benefit: If you’re still disabled after receiving benefits for 12 consecutive months, the policy will help cover your lease costs.
• Loss of profits benefit: If you suffer a loss of profits after taking two months off work due to total disablement, your insurance will help cover your loss of profits when you return to work.
• Other benefits: These include an elective surgery benefit, an inflation protection benefit, a recurrent disability benefit and a waiver of premium benefit.

Optional benefits of this type of policy include:

• Accident benefit option: A proportion of your overall benefit amount is paid for each day you are injured if you are totally disabled for at least three consecutive days during the waiting period.

Pays out a lump sum of up to $1.5 million in the event of you becoming permanently disabled and unable to work. You can choose between any occupation or own occupation cover. This type of insurance is also available for homemakers who aren’t working full-time.

Pays out a lump sum of up to $500,000 in the case of specific medical events such as Alzheimer’s, cancer or heart attack. When you choose cancer cover, you can also get an advance payment in some situations of up to $50,000 or 25% of your benefit amount.

Pays out a monthly benefit of up to 75% of your income, up to $10,000. You can choose a waiting period of 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 13 weeks or 2 years and can choose a maximum benefit period of 1, 2 or 5 years.

No Accelerated Protection critical illness insurance claim will be paid if:

• It is caused by an intentional self-inflicted act by the life insured
• The condition was diagnosed or became apparent within three months of the policy starting, or of cover being increased or reinstated (this exclusion does not apply to all critical illness events)
• The life insured does not survive for at least 14 days following the critical illness event

Your claim under Accelerated Protection TPD insurance will not be paid if:

• It is caused by an intentional self-inflicted act by the life insured
• It is caused by pregnancy, unless disability continues for longer than three months after the pregnancy ends

Other specific exclusions apply to income protection and business expense insurance, so read the Accelerated Protection PDS for more information.

• When not bundled with life insurance, no benefit is payable unless you survive for at least 14 days following a disabling injury or illness
• No cover for disability resulting from self-inflicted harm, suicide or attempted suicide within 13 months of cover beginning
• No cover for sports injuries unless you have included sports cover alongside your accident cover
• TPD insurance cover expires at age 64 when standalone, or age 99 when bundled with life insurance

• When not bundled with life insurance, no benefits are payable if you don’t survive for at least 14 days following an event
• No cover if the event was caused directly or indirectly by self-harm within 13 months of taking out a policy
• No cover for certain health issues if they were apparent, or reasonably apparent, as pre-existing conditions before you took out cover
• No cover for critical injuries occurring while undertaking high-risk pastimes, such as rock climbing, scuba diving or hang gliding
• Recovery insurance expires at age 69

• No cover for any disability resulting from self-inflicted harm
• No cover for disability resulting from pregnancy or birth, unless you are disabled and unable to work for more than 3 months following the event
• No cover while visiting a country where the Australian Government has issued a “do not travel” warning
• Benefits payable for mental illness-related conditions are limited to 2 years
• No cover for disability sustained while undertaking sports or hazardous pastimes unless you have chosen to add sports cover
• No benefits payable for more than 90 days while you are residing outside of Australia
• Income protection insurance expires at age 64