Trauma Insurance

Extra conditions for an added cost

Note: Some conditions are only covered partially e.g. 50% of your sum insured.

Time off work

When you are trying to recover from or deal with a medical trauma, the last thing you want to be worrying about is work. That is why you can use your benefit amount to take some time off work, and allow your partner to take some time off too, so that you can concentrate on your recovery.

Coverage for debts and rehabilitation

Unlike income protection insurance, trauma protection is not designed to be ongoing financial support, trauma insurance is designed to help cover short term medical bills and the cost of your rehabilitation, as well as paying off your debts so that you don't have to worry about a mortgage or losing your home while you recover.

How trauma insurance different other forms of cover?

Trauma Insurance vs Income Protection

Trauma Cover vs Life Insurance

Trauma cover can be a standalone policy or linked with the policyholders life cover. Applicants can usually receive cover until the age of 65 though some companies provide cover to the age of 80 with some restrictions.

Who is eligible to apply for a Trauma Insurance Policy in Australia?

You can apply for cover in Australia if you are:

• Between the age 17 to 59 years old
• An Australian citizen or permanent resident
• Residing in Australia at the time of application

If I've already suffered a serious illness can I apply for trauma cover?

Unfortunately it is difficult to get cover for a pre-existing medical conditions. However, you can still get covered for most other un-related conditions with an exclusion on the specific condition you have previously been diagnosed with.

Example: if you're condition in the past was a heart attack, this how some insurers might cover you:

How to compare

What features should I compare on Australian policies?

Look out for the following policy information:

Make sure you also consider your personal circumstance:

Look out for:

• What you require in your policy. Some basic policies may only cover up to 10 medical conditions with more advanced policies offering cover for up to 30 medical conditions. It is essential you know exactly what is being covered before applying.
• Find a policy that can be tailored to suit your needs. Cheaper policies may have more restrictions on what the buyer can adjust in terms of how they want to pay their premiums.
• Compare the benefits on offer from each plan. Buyers should be aware of what each provider is offering in terms of special rebates or promotional offers.
• Compare premiums from each provider. Make sure you know exactly what the policy is covering.

What additional trauma options can provide extra value for me?

Comparison: Does the most expensive trauma insurance policy offer the most features?

Not necessarily. As shown in the comparison below, the type of features offered aren’t always related to the price. Some features are offered on the cheaper policy but not by the more expensive policy.

_{Prices and features were taken from finder life insurance quote engine using a $150,000 stand alone trauma insurance policy for a 29 year old male non-smoker. Details were last checked as accurate in January 2018.}

Is the cheaper product better?

Not always. Although a few features stand out, it’s good idea to look beyond the feature set. A good place to start is to look at the customer satisfaction and brand awards of the insurer. Additionally, when comparing features it's a good a idea to access what features are important to you.

Find out what features are important to you by speaking to an adviser

Who should consider taking out trauma insurance?

Trauma Insurance is really worth considering for anyone that does not have the financial backing to deal with the costs that may be associated with suffering a Trauma condition. This may include:

• People with dependent families.
• People that do not want to burden friends and loved ones with the expense of a serious illness or injury.
• Executives and other key workers in a company that work under a high-degree of stress.
• Older people that may be more susceptible to suffering a condition.
• Young couples that had only recently married and are looking to protect their families future.
• People that already have life cover or income protection but would like to accommodate for the extra risk of a trauma condition.
• People that may have been unable to take out income protection due to the nature of their occupation or preexisting health conditions.

Sample cost of trauma insurance policies

Claims

• Pre-existing medical conditions. While some policies can cover a pre-existing medical condition with limited cover, most policies won't. Don't assume you are covered straight away.
• Check the list of covered conditions. Trauma insurance will only pay out for medical events listed in the product disclosure statement (PDS).
• Disclose everything. If you have any previous medical history or if you work in a dangerous occupation, then you must disclose this with your insurer. Failure to disclose (even with conditions unrelated to your claim) could lead to an unsuccessful claim in some cases.

If I make a claim for trauma will I still have death cover?

If you take out a life insurance policy that includes trauma cover and make a trauma claim your policy will typically subtract the trauma benefit amount from your total death benefit. For instance if you have $1 million is life insurance with a $300,000 trauma benefit and make a claim you'll be left with $700,000 death cover.

Can I make sure I still have full life insurance cover after a claim?

Yes! the good news is that you can take out a buy-back option (double trauma) that allows you to reinstate your full life cover. Here's how it works:

Trauma Insurance: Frequently Asked Questions

There are so many different forms of life insurance available, so below are some simple answers to questions which might be weighing on your decisions:

• Q. What is trauma insurance?

  • A. Trauma insurance is also known as critical illness insurance or recovery insurance and pays a tax free benefit amount to be spent any way you choose if you are diagnosed with an eligible medical condition.

• Q. How much trauma insurance is enough?

  • A. The average policy is for between $100,000 and $500,000 but your cover amount will depend on your specific needs, your dependents and your debts.

• Q. Do you need trauma cover in addition to private health insurance?

  • A. Yes, you should consider cover even if you already have private health insurance because your health cover and the Medicare system will only cover some of the costs associated with treating critical illnesses and many health funds will have a gap where you still have to pay for a portion of your medical bills and medications. Trauma insurance will also cover your wages, pay your mortgage, pay for childcare costs for your family and pay for a nurse to attend to you at home while you recover, where Medicare and some health funds do not.

• Q. Why take out trauma insurance?

  • A. Medical traumas such as cancer, heart conditions and disability can happen to anyone at any time, and since you can never know what is going to happen, you should consider protecting yourself and ensuring you have the funds to access the best medical care if required, while also having the peace of mind that you'll have enough money to take care of your family and your debts if you do become ill.

• Q. Are There Waiting Periods for Trauma Insurance?

  • A. The waiting period on a life insurance policy is the period of time between when an actual claim is made and a benefit is provided to the insured.

  It is worth noting that Insurance Companies in Australia apply a three month waiting period from policy commencement or the reinstatement of a policy for:

  • Cancer
  • Stroke
  • Heart Attack

  • Coronary Artery By-Pass Surgery
  • Coronary Artery Angioplasty
  • Coronary Artery Angioplasty Triple Vessel

What exclusions are there when it comes to trauma insurance?

Self-harm

As with most types of life cover, Trauma Insurance will not provide coverage for intentional self-inflicted injury or attempted suicide.

Pre-existing conditions

Trauma insurance will usually not cover pre-existing medical conditions. However you can still get covered for events not related to a pre-existing medical condition. Note: You should always disclose anything prior conditions with your insurer.

Exclusion periods

Most policies won't cover you straight away for certain types of medical conditions. This is known as the exclusion period and go up to 90 days.

Receive trauma insurance quotes with an adviser or direct

_References:

_{¹ https://www.insurancewatch.com.au/australias-3-1-trillion-underinsurance-crisis/}

_{² http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=6442452954}

_{³ http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/chronic-cardio}

_{⁴ http://www.genre.com/knowledge/publications/ri15-4-droste-xiang-en.html}

_{Picture:James Keuning licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (image cropped)}

_{Picture:Yo Szczepanska licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (image cropped)}

_{*The number of conditions covered will vary policy to policy. Always check the product disclosure statement to review what is and isn't covered.}
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